Shadow, Snow & Blood
by Halawen
Summary: Owen, Drew, Adam, Bianca, Clare, Jake, Alli, Dave, Jenna, Mo, Marisol and Katie are looking forward to a long weekend at the Milligan ski cabin. It's a trip that will change them forever.
1. Tyranny of Nature's PLans

**Welcome to the new short story! This is dedicated to Jenne11 as it was her idea and request.**

 **Legal: I am not associated with and do not own DeGrassi or Epitome.**

 **Very important things to know before reading~**

 ***Basically, this takes place after the frostival but Clare did not kiss Eli at the Frostival. They however on good terms again.**

 ***In story time it's just after Christmas.**

 ***Clare and Jake did date and broke up over the summer, no one went to the Martin cabin after the wedding.**

 ***Drew is still dating Katie.**

 ***Dave and Alli are dating, Jenna and K.C. have broken up.**

 ***Marisol is dating Mo.**

 **This is a suspense shot but there will be some fluff and possibly some smut. This is your one and only warning that this is a suspense shot.**

 **Ch. 1 I Was Schooled in the Tyranny of Nature's Plans**

 **(CLARE)**

I watch the snow falling on the back window of the SUV and sigh. Spending a part of my winter break at Owen's family's ski cabin was not how I pictured spending this weekend. Owen was coming up for the weekend, he invited Drew, Katie and Adam. Adam asked if I could go so Owen invited me. Mom would only let me go if Jake came, which Owen was okay with, and then Owen invited Bianca. Katie wanted Marisol to come, and, according to Adam, Owen wouldn't let Marisol come without Mo there to keep her in line or to keep Owen from killing Marisol. Somehow Alli managed to het herself, Jenna and Dave invited after finding out Adam and I were going. I felt kind of bad for Owen actually, I'm sure this is not at all how he pictured his weekend going either.

With so many of us, and all our luggage, we had to take three cars. Owen, Adam, Bianca, Jake and I are riding with Owen in his SUV. Drew is with Katie, Mo and Marisol in her car. Dave, Alli and Jenna are in Dave's car, they invited me and Adam to ride with them, but Owen had already invited us to ride in his car. Besides, since Jake was only on this trip because of me I figured I should ride with him. We'd stopped for dinner a couple of hours ago, but I was very ready to be out of the car, we'd been driving most of the day.

"Well, here it is," Owen says, and I look out the front window to see the cabin.

"Dude, this is huge, puts our cabin to shame," Jake comments.

"Our cabin is a shack," I quip, and Jake twists his mouth at me. "It really is impressive Owen, it looks like a hotel," I remark.

"We do rent it out, it's been a good investment for my parents. With the lake nearby, we rent it out in the winter and the summer. It sleeps a lot of people so if a group splits the cost it's cheaper than a hotel," Owen tells us before turning off the car.

Everyone gets out of the cars, while most of us are putting on coats and getting out our luggage Owen goes up the steps to unlock the front door. He gets that open and turns on interior lights as well as a light outside. Now that we can see everyone gets their bags and we go inside. The interior is more impressive than the outside, we walk in to a small foyer, stairs right in front of us lead to the second story, a small console table welcomes you with a plant, and pictures on the walls.

"There's four rooms besides mine, Drew you can bunk with me, unless one of the girls wants to," Owen says wiggling his eyebrow suggestively.

"No way," Jenna shakes her head.

"Eww," chorus Marisol and Alli.

"Dream on," Bianca shoots back.

"There are two beds in that room, right?" Drew asks.

"Yeah, two queens," Owen nods.

"I'm bunking with Mare, and we are not sharing with Bianca," Katie says in a haughty tone.

"B you and Clare can take the master," Owen shrugs.

"Sweet," Bianca smiles.

"Come on upstairs I'll show you the rooms," Owen says, and we follow him upstairs. "This room has two sets of bunk beds," Owen says pointing to the first door on the left when we reach the top of the stairs. "Adam, Jake, Mo and Dave you four should probably take that one."

Drew looks at Adam asking a silent question and Adam nods. "It should be fine," Adam says.

"It'll be like a sleepover," Jake grins and I smile at him.

"Hey, if they give you any trouble Adam you can come sleep with me and Clare," Bianca grins putting an arm around Adam's shoulders and he blushes.

"I'll be fine," Adam repeats still with red cheeks.

"On that side is bunk beds with a day bed," Owen tells them pointing to the first door on the right.

"Jenna and I will take that one," Alli says.

"Okay, B and Clare the master is at the end of the hall," Owen tells us as he begins walking, so we follow him. "This is me and Drew," Owen says opening the last door on the left just before the master. "Katie and Marisol that's you across the hall," Owen says pointing to the door.

Bianca opens the door at the end of the hall and I follow her in. The master bedroom is grand, it's nicer than any hotel I've ever been in. The showpiece of the room is the large king size bed, it has a silver tufted headboard, at least a dozen pillows and a scarlet red bedspread with white sheets. There's an actual chandelier over the bed, and floor to ceiling scarlet curtains to match the bedspread. A full-length mirror in an ornate silver frame is on the opposite wall, there's artwork on the walls and some kind of small tree or topiary bush in the corners on the same wall as the door. A large walk in closet is on one side of the bed and on the other a gorgeous master bath that seems to be all marble.

"Pretty sure we got the best room in the house," I laugh as I set down my bag.

"We definitely got the best room in the house," Bianca grins.

I'm not going to bother unpacking clothes since we're only here for a couple of days, but I do unpack my toiletries in the washroom. Bianca does the same, we take off our coats and both fall on the bed at the same time, then we both giggle. The bed is massive and very comfortable.

"ANYONE WHO WANTS THE GRAND TOUR COME NOW," Owen calls.

"I suppose we should see the rest of the house," Bianca remarks as we get up and go to the door. Everyone else also comes out of their rooms and follows Owen downstairs for the tour. Katie latches right on to Drew and Bianca rolls her eyes.

We go downstairs and to the right which takes us to a great room consisting of a formal living room, a large open kitchen and a dining area. Owen shows us the pantry, the door to the basement and the mudroom which leads to the back door. Going around the kitchen we come to a formal dining room and then to what Owen refers to as "the fun room". It is a large room with sofas, chairs a big screen TV, game system and a pool table. From this room you walk back around to the front entry.

"In case you missed it the deck wraps around, there's a fireplace on each side and heat lamps if anyone wants to hang out for a bit," Owen says when he concludes the tour.

"I need my coat," I remark.

"No way between the heat lamps and the fire it's plenty warm," Owen disagrees.

"I know we stopped for dinner a little over an hour ago but I'm hungry," Jake says.

"You're always hungry," I reply and Jenna giggles.

"I'm hungry too," Mo agrees.

"Kitchen is fully stocked, help yourself," Owen replies.

Jake, Mo, Marisol and Dave go into the kitchen, and the rest of us follow Owen outside. He goes around the corner where I find an outdoor seating area. The huge stone-faced fireplace is surrounded by heat lamps, chairs and an outdoor sofa, there's even a rug. Owen starts a fire by flicking a switch and the gas fireplace lights. Owen sits in one of the chairs, I sit next to Adam on the sofa and Jenna sits on the other side of me. Drew asks Owen about the area, people talk about what they want to do tomorrow and then Jake, Mo, Marisol and Dave come out with cookies and hot chocolate for everyone. We stay on the deck for a few hours and never do get cold, we talk and have dessert. I watch the stars, but after driving most of the day we get pretty tired and turn in relatively early. Of course, by the time I'm ready for bed and Bianca's ready for bed it's been almost another hour.

The bed is so big, and the mattress is memory foam I don't even feel Bianca. I fall asleep pretty quickly, but get woken by noises. At first the noises seem to be coming from outside, but then I think they're coming from downstairs. I tell myself that it's just one of the others, I try to get back to sleep, but I can't. I won't be able to go back to sleep until I know who's downstairs and what their doing. I get up and leave the room quietly, Bianca stays asleep. I make my way downstairs quietly, no lights on down here, I think I hear noises in the kitchen, so I go that way but still see no lights. I turn the lights on in the kitchen and see no one, I stay very still for a moment and listen. I do hear noises, but they seem to be coming from outside. I determine it must be an animal outside that's just very close to the house.

I decide to check all the doors and windows anyway. Starting with the kitchen I check all the windows, then the door to the basement and the backdoor. I go around the house in a clockwise manner, turning on lights in one room, checking all the doors and windows and then moving on. After I check "the fun room" I turn out the light and cross the entry for the great room when a hand grabs my shoulder in the darkness! Naturally, I scream as loud as I can.

"Fuck, it's just me," Owen growls angrily and flips on a light. I see that it's him and let out a breath, regrettably my scream seems to have been loud enough to wake the rest of the house. Everyone comes running down the stairs, Jake and Adam leading the pack.

"Sorry, I'm okay. Owen grabbed me in the dark and I screamed," I apologize as Owen takes his hand off my shoulder.

"What are you doing grabbing her in the dark?" Adam inquires.

"I wanted to know what she was doing skulking around the house so late," Owen replies.

"I heard noises, I thought they were coming from down here. Then I decided they were coming from outside. I figured it was an animal, but I still wanted to check the doors and windows to be safe. That's what I was doing."

"Lots of animals out here," Owen says.

"Did you check all the doors and windows?" Jake questions.

"I checked from the kitchen clockwise," I reply.

"I'll check the rest of the great room," Adam comments.

"I'll go with you," Drew offers.

Owen goes with them and they tell me everything is locked tight. I apologize for waking everyone again and we all go back to bed. Knowing the house is all locked up I'm able to fall asleep quickly, and sleep the rest of the night.

 **(ADAM)**

"I'm getting hungry," I call to Owen after a beautiful landing on my snowboard.

It was our first day here, even after being woken by Clare's scream last night we all woke up fairly early this morning. After making ourselves breakfast and cleaning up we split up depending on what we wanted to do. Drew wanted to come snowboarding with me, Owen, Dave and Bianca, but Katie dragged him skiing instead. Jake and Mo went sledding, everyone else is skiing.

"Me too, and it's getting dark," Owen nods. He wanted everyone to meet back at the cabin before dark, so we would know everyone was okay, after all it is his family's cabin and Owen feels responsible for everyone. Of course, all our parents gave us permission to come, and knew that with skiing and snowboarding there was a chance we could get hurt. "Hey," he calls to Dave and Bianca, "let's get back and start dinner."

We grab our snowboards and trek back to the snowmobiles. Owen and Bianca get on one, Dave and I get on another and we follow Owen back to the cabin. Drew, Katie, Alli, Jenna, Clare and Marisol pull up just as we're getting the snowmobiles in the garage. Owen let Drew drive his SUV, so they could get to the slopes. It figures my brother would be surrounded by all girls, even if his girlfriend did drag him. When we come into the cabin we find Jake and Mo are already back and they've started dinner, so everyone is safe.

After I change out of my snow suit and clean up a little I help Jake and Mo finish dinner. It's pretty simple just spaghetti and garlic bread. When Marisol and Katie come down they make a salad, Clare and Owen set the table. Everyone is in a good mood and very hungry by the time we sit down and eat.

"Looks like you survived skiing," I comment to my brother as we begin eating.

"Barely, he's not very good on skis, he fell on me twice," Clare remarks.

"I think that was intentional," Owen says with a taunting tone and I laugh.

"It's not my fault I was with all the girls. At least I got off her, you probably would have had her behind a tree and making out," Drew banters back and everyone laughs. Except for Clare who turns bright red.

"Sledding was fun, had some close calls with a couple of trees though," Jake speaks up. I think it was mostly to get the attention off of Clare.

"Yeah, I almost rolled down the hill like a snowball once," Mo tells us.

"You should come skiing with me tomorrow," Marisol says.

Everyone has at least one story to share while we're eating. When we're done eating Drew, Alli, Jenna and Dave do most of the clean up since they didn't help with dinner. The little trashcan under the sink does get full and has some food in it, so I decide to take it outside. Owen tells me where the big trashcans are outside, he also tells me they're locked in a wooden storage shed to keep animals out. I put on a coat and shoes, grab the key marked **Trash** ,turn on the backyard light and go outside. After putting the bag in the can I notice something in the snow, something just beyond where the light will reach.

"Hey Owen," I call into the house and he appears a second later. "There a flashlight around?"

"Yeah," he says opening a cabinet in the mudroom and handing me a large flashlight, then he slips on some snow boots and a big coat. "What's up?" He asks following me out.

"Not sure, saw something in the snow," I reply. I turn on the light and go back to where I saw it, and freeze when I see it's a trail of blood in the snow. I can see about a dozen drops from the trees and going around towards the deck.

"It's probably a wounded animal, maybe even whatever Clare heard last night," Owen says.

"That blood looks pretty fresh," I point out.

"We've had animals take shelter under the deck before."

"You're right, it's probably an animal," I agree turning and walking back for the house. "Uh, let's not tell Clare about this," I whisper to Owen as we're taking off our shoes and coats in the mudroom.

"Good plan, we'll just keep this to ourselves," Owen agrees.

Dinner is cleaned up and Alli wants to take a bath which monopolizes the girl's washroom. Katie has disappeared with my brother somewhere, probably to make out, Mo and Marisol have also disappeared, so they could be together. The rest of us go into "the fun room" Owen turns on the TV and finds a movie while Dave and I play pool. We're up pretty late, watching movies, playing pool and Clare finds some board games. The others do eventually join us, after a full day most of us start going to bed around midnight. I sleep pretty well but wake a couple hours later to use the washroom, it's not until I'm up that I realize Mo isn't in his bed and there's a light on in the hall. I assume it's Mo, still when I'm done in the washroom I quietly go out to the hall. I see there's lights on downstairs too.

"Who forgot to turn off the lights?" Drew yawns coming out of Owen's room.

"I think it's Mo, he's not in his bed."

"Probably snuck away to make out with Marisol again," Drew says.

We go downstairs quietly, expecting to find Mo and Marisol making out on the sofa, but we don't. We walk through to the formal dining room and nearly bump into Clare as she's coming through the door. She gasps and then releases a breath when she sees that it's us.

"What are you two doing," she censures.

"Saw the light on, Mo wasn't in his bed I came to see where he was," I tell her.

"I saw the light on, but I think Mo is making out with Marisol somewhere. Now what are you doing up again?" Drew asks.

"I heard noises again. I was sure they were inside the house this time. Bianca seems to be able to sleep through everything, it didn't wake her up."

"It was probably just Mo and Marisol sneaking out to be alone," I assure her.

"Yeah, it wouldn't surprise me that those two can't be quiet," Clare nods.

"Come on, let's go back to bed," I say taking her arm. We turn off the lights and go back upstairs, I walk with Drew and Clare to their rooms.

"Clare if you can't sleep you can always come into our room and get in bed with Owen. I'm sure he won't mind," Drew grins as he opens his door.

"Don't listen to him, if you can't sleep come get me," I tell Clare and she smiles.

"Dude what's going on?" Owen yawns. "Who's getting in bed with me?"

"Go back to sleep," Drew laughs.

Clare goes into her room and I go back to mine. Dave has the top bunk, so I get into mine without waking him or Jake. It takes me a little time to fall back to sleep but once I do I sleep soundly. I wake up a little after eight the next morning when Jake gets up to use the washroom, he goes in and locks the door and I start to drift back to sleep until he comes out again.

"Where's Mo?" Jake asks with a yawn.

"I don't know, he wasn't in his bed last night either. I think he and Marisol snuck out," I reply sitting up with a stretch.

"They probably fell asleep on the pool table or something," Dave yawns as he hops down from the top bunk.

The three of us start getting dressed. Either Drew and Owen wake at the same time we do, or we wake them up going in and out of the washroom. Jake and Dave have no trouble changing and getting dressed in the room, but I take my chest binding and clothes into the washroom to get dressed. I'm also the first one ready and I leave my room just as Clare leaves hers.

"Mo still isn't in his bed," I tell Clare and she gets a worried look on her face.

"He and Marisol probably fell asleep downstairs," Drew remarks coming out of his room shirtless.

"That's what I said," Dave agrees.

"Did you check to see if Marisol is in her bed?" Clare asks.

Drew shrugs and goes to the door of the room Katie and Marisol are sharing. He knocks softly before just opening the door, "Katie it's me."

"Don't come in Drew I'm getting dressed," Katie barks at him before slamming the door on him.

"Is Marisol in there?" I call through the door.

"No, she and Mo met up late last night to make out and she never came back to the room. Now go away so I can get dressed," Katie replies sharply.

"They have to be downstairs somewhere. I don't think they could have fallen asleep and stayed outside all night," Drew says.

"Yeah, let's go look downstairs," I nod.

"Look for who?" Owen asks coming out of his room fully dressed.

"Mo and Marisol, they snuck out for some sexy time and never came back to their rooms," Drew informs him.

The five of us go downstairs, we check "the fun room" first but don't see them. We check the great room after that as that's the next most obvious, but they aren't there either. We can see the kitchen from here and no one is in there, we walk around to the formal dining room and check there just to be safe. They aren't there either.

"Let's go outside, maybe they did sleep through the cold," Owen remarks.

"Drew you need to get some more clothes on first. We should probably all get shoes and jackets on. If they were stupid enough to wander away from the cabin in the middle of the night they may have gotten lost or be stuck in the snow," I speak up. I have that uneasy queasy feeling and the hairs on the back of my neck are standing on end. Something most definitely is not right.

We return upstairs, running into most of the others along the way. We tell them we're going to look for Mo and Marisol, so they return to the rooms to get coats and shoes, or get fully dressed. By the time everyone meets in the entry we're all here, except for Mo and Marisol.

"I told Mare not to go out last night. If she got lost or something I'll kill her," Katie comments.

"I'm going to kill them both anyway," Owen remarks as he opens the front door. We check all around the deck first, but there's no sign of them. Owen is the only one with a good knowledge of the area, so he's in the lead. Jake and I are right behind him, Katie is clinging to my brother just behind us, and finally Clare, Bianca, Jenna, Dave and Alli are in the rear. "Fuck," Owen says stopping suddenly.

"What?" Jake asks as he and I go on either side of Owen to see why he stopped.

"That's not from an animal is it?" I question seeing the large pool of blood in the snow.

"I doubt it, and I've never seen an animal kill another animal that big and drag it away," Owen says pointing at the drag marks near the blood, "or wear shoes," he comments, and I see the footprints in the snow near the trees.

"What is it? Did you find them?" Clare calls as she begins walking toward us.

"We need to get everyone back to the cabin," Owen says turning around. Jake and I do the same thing.

"Clare get back to the cabin," Jake commands her and she scowls at him for ordering her to do something.

"Why?" She questions still coming toward us. Jake takes some surprisingly nimble steps towards her in the deep snow and grabs her before she can go any farther.

"What's going on? Where's Marisol? It's cold out here," Katie whines.

"We'll get back to the cabin and call the cops and ski patrol," Owen says but keeps his voice fairly low. I nod and take a step in the direction of the cabin. Dave somehow got Alli and Jenna to start heading that way and Bianca is staying where she is. Drew and Katie are starting to turn around to go back to the cabin and Jake is trying to pull Clare that way, so currently she's the only one facing the forest.

"Owen!" Clare shrieks suddenly. Both her shrill scream and the shadow looming behind Owen make my heart stop, I become frozen in place.

 _Scruwnch_ the chilling bone splitting sound of Owen getting hit in the head with a shovel rings through our ears. He falls, like a tree that was swiftly felled by an axe, straight down in the snow. I hold my breath as my eyes look over to see who hit him and Clare screams while the others turn around.

A man stands there, about Owen's height, a little slimmer and less muscle, kind of scrawny. Dark blonde hair, a thin mustache, small beard, but it's his eyes that scare me, they look soulless. He's still holding the shovel, seems to be making sure that Owen won't be getting up.

For a second all of us are frozen, including the man that knocked Owen out. Then my brother, of course, decides to try and be the hero. He lets go of Katie and in a (I'll grant him) super-human-like move is suddenly next to me. He's all ready to fight the guy with the shovel, until another man steps out from the trees and trains a gun on us. He cocks it and points it right at Drew's face…

 **Now aren't you glad that short stories get two chapters at a time? Ch. 2 will be up shortly.**


	2. Smiling, Laughing, From the Shadows

**Hope you enjoyed the first chapter!**

 **Ch. 2 Smiling, Laughing, From the Shadows**

 **(DREW)**

"Stay right there," says the dangerous looking man holding the gun on me. He's a little taller and more muscular than the guy that hit Owen with the shovel. He's got a scruffy beard like he hasn't shaved in a couple of days, dark eyes and hair. Both men are scary, look like they've been out here a couple days and that they'd do just about anything.

For a brief moment I consider my chances of tackling the guy with the shovel to the ground before the other guy can pull the trigger.

"Drew don't," Adam whispers to me. He must have known what I was thinking.

"All you kids back to the house," says the man holding the gun still. Shovel-Man retrieves a shotgun from behind his back. I guess it shows the situation we're in that I consider us lucky that he only knocked Owen out with a shovel and didn't shoot him.

"You heard him move, unless more of you want to bleed," Shovel-Man taunts and then laughs.

Dave has Alli and Jenna, they turn quickly heading for the cabin. It's not that far from us, we can see it, and our cars, maybe a hundred yards. Bianca is just behind them, Jake with his arm around Clare behind her. Katie hasn't moved so I grab her arm, Adam has a hold of me and we're just behind them, leaving Owen face down in the snow, I hope he can breathe. I also hope he's not really unconscious, maybe he woke up and he's faking now, and he'll come and rescue us. I guess some of us could try and run, but the snow is pretty deep, and I don't think we can outrun two guns. Katie is a blackbelt, I half expect her to turn and roundhouse kick one of them, she seems to be in shock though.

"Into the garage," says the bigger one.

"How do you open the garage?" Shovel-Man questions.

"We don't know, you knocked out the person that knows how to access things," I inform them. My mouth never did know when to shut up. My talking seems to have knocked Katie out of her shock however, unfortunately not enough to think apparently.

"Where is Marisol, what did you do to her you sick maniac," Katie screeches.

"If you mean the girl with her guy we killed them, they came out really early this morning and found us. We killed them before they even saw us, near took the big guy's head clean off," laughs the scarier one holding the pistol.

Katie goes white, then green, vomits and then passes out. I still have hold of her, so she doesn't land in the snow. Shovel-Man and Crazy-Man order us into the house, so I pick Katie up and toss her over my shoulder.

"Keep moving, where's the kitchen?" Crazy-Man asks us.

"Th…this way," Jenna blubbers.

"Show me," Crazy-Man says grabbing Jenna's arm and pulling her to him.

She shrieks until he holds the gun to her head and then she seems to stop breathing. Dave and Alli move like they're going to try and pull her back, but Adam and Clare stop them. Forced to lead the way Jenna shows him the kitchen, the rest of us follow them in a line of two by two mostly. And Shovel-Man is right behind me holding the shotgun to my back, if anyone looks like they're going to get out of line he points the shotgun at them. When we get to the kitchen Crazy-Man is disappointed.

"There must be a way to get in the garage from here, what's this?" He asks dragging Jenna toward the pantry, he's not happy with that either but he sees the door to the basement and opens it. He can't even see anything, it's just dark but when he opens the door he grins. If evil has a face this is it, his grin, the way his eyes glint sends a chill through me and makes my blood turn cold. The second he smiles is the very second, I doubt any of us will make it out of this alive. Without turning on the light, or even saying anything, Crazy-Man tosses Jenna down the stairs!

"JENNA!" Alli and Clare scream at the same time while Bianca gasps. The rest of us hear the sickening sound of Jenna bouncing down the steps. Before anyone can stop him Jake leaps forward, red and pissed.

"BASTARD," Jake yells.

I don't even hear the gunshot, but I do hear Jake scream and watch him fall to the floor. Jake's jeans slowly begin to turn red as his thigh becomes soaked by blood. Just looking at it I almost drop Katie, but manage to steady myself.

"Anyone else tries something and I won't aim for the leg. Help him up and all of you get down there," Crazy-Man barks at us.

Adam and Bianca help Jake up, Clare turns on the light for the basement and we all go downstairs. It's not a finished basement like ours, it's also not a dirt basement from a horror movie. There's finished walls, no windows, exposed piping, but a pretty clean cement floor. There's also a lot of stuff down here equipment, lanterns, extra non-perishable food, still it runs under most of the house it looks like, so it's pretty big. Jenna is groaning and crying, I see some bruises forming and a bit of blood, she looks like she might get sick and she might pass out. I wouldn't blame her if she did, I can imagine the pain she's in after that. Alli and Dave carefully move her from the bottom of the stairs so everyone else can come down the stairs. Adam and Bianca set Jake on the floor and Clare goes to his side. I set Katie down and she's still out, I think she must be in shock, her system just shut down out of shock. I look up just in time to see Crazy-Man yank Clare away from Jake.

"Get that rope and start tying the boys up, you can start with him," Crazy-Man demands and points the gun at me. Apparently, I'm the biggest threat right now.

"If I don't help him he could bleed to death," Clare pleads looking at Jake. Her voice is fairly steady, but her eyes are wet with tears and I can see how scared she is.

"He was stupid, now are you going to tie them up or do I need to shoot you too?" Crazy-Man asks.

Swallowing hard Clare gets the coil of rope and comes over to me. Her eyes are full of remorse for what she's about to do, she takes the rope and I hold my arms out for her. I don't want to be tied up, but I don't want to take the risk that they'll shoot or hurt anyone else either.

"It's okay," I whisper to her as she begins wrapping the rope around my wrists.

"I need to cut it," Clare's voice trembles.

"Tie it around his ankles first," Crazy-Man tells Clare. She pulls the rope down and wraps it around my ankles a few times, it's not super tight but it's not loose either, he probably would have noticed that. "You, come here," Crazy-Man calls to Dave, and he comes of course. I can't see what's happening, but I feel Dave's back against mine. "Now tie them together, get it around their waist and then do his wrists and ankles," Crazy-Man instructs Clare.

Clare's starting to cry, she's not sobbing loudly or anything, but as she wraps the rope around our waists I see tears crawling down her cheeks. I wish I could assure her, but I don't think anything I say is going to make her feel better. After she coils the rope around our waists a few times, and I'm assuming Dave's wrists, Clare tells us we should sit. Working out how to sit when you're tied to someone else is not easy, but Dave and I get it worked out. Clare must finish tying Dave's ankles, but there's still rope left. Crazy-Man tells Clare to wrap it around our waists and arms, so she does, and he has her tie the last end of the of the rope by looping it through one of the loops on my wrists.

"Find some more rope, or something else to secure everyone with," Crazy-Man instructs Clare.

"Two of us are injured, you going to tie them too?" Bianca asks. She was never very good at keeping her mouth shut either.

"You help the other one find some rope," Crazy-Man says to Bianca and waves the gun at her to make sure she's going to do it.

Clare finds some harnesses and equipment that looks like it's for rock climbing or something. It's not enough to tie two people together though, so he has her secure Jake's wrists behind his back and to a pipe sticking out of the floor that goes up the wall. She does manage to put a tourniquet of a sorts around Jake's leg. Crazy-Man either doesn't see or doesn't care that she does this. Bianca found some snow chains and Crazy-man has her bind Jenna to a different pipe with them. Jenna is in a lot of pain; her arm looks broken and she cries out a lot while Bianca is being forced to restrain her. After a particularly painful cry from Jenna I notice Katie is starting to come to.

"Watch them, if someone moves shoot them," Crazy-Man says to Shovel-Man.

"Gladly," Shovel-Man grins pumping the shot gun.

"You two come with me," Crazy-Man demands while grabbing Clare and holding the gun to Bianca.

They disappear around a shelving unit, looking for more things to restrain us with I'm sure. Katie is groaning on the floor and I know she's going to come back to reality at any moment.

"Katie stay still and quiet," I warn her. I just hope she listens. Moving my head just a little I try to locate Adam, he and Alli are the only other ones untied at the moment. Not that they can try anything or that they should as it will probably only get them shot. I see Adam from the corner of my eye, against a wall and with his arm around Alli.

"Marisol," Katie gasps sitting up very quickly.

"Stay still and quiet," I warn her sharply. It doesn't do any good.

"You killed Marisol," Katie says as a sort of battle-cry and finally remembers her martial arts training.

She leaps up preparing for a kick and then BOOM, it sounds like an explosion to me, it may as well have been. The shot gun goes off inches from Katie's face and from my view it looks like her head explodes! There's no scream, her body doesn't fly back, she just falls dead near me. Her blood, tissue and I don't want to know what else splatter on me. I look at my dead girlfriend, her face, skull and neck look like they went through a meat grinder. I turn my head to the side and lose whatever is in my stomach. Now I'm sure none of us are going to make it out of this.

 **(BIANCA)**

Clare and I are looking for things to tie the others with, not by choice. I've already passed up some bungee cords, they were wrapped around some old blue tarps, at the back of a shelf so the man holding the gun to us didn't see them. I saw a tent stake or something on one shelf, I considered grabbing it and stabbing the man. I reconsidered though, first he has a hold of Clare and I thought he would probably shoot her if I even tried. I also wasn't so sure how sharp the stake was, even if I managed to stab him, without him shooting Clare, if I didn't do much damage he'd probably just shoot me. I wasn't giving up, I was trying to think of a way out of this, or at least a way to survive until these pyschos leave. From the other part of the room I think I hear Katie yell, and then we hear a sound, a terrifying, heart-stopping sound. Not a bang or a boom but something in between, and it echoes a little in the room. The psycho that has a hold of Clare laughs, he knows it was a gunshot, he knows his partner just shot someone and he laughs!

"Here, this will work," the man says pulling a bundle of straps from a shelf. The straps look like the kind you would secure luggage with. "Come on, get moving," he says shoving at me and then Clare. When we come around the corner back to the others I see that Katie was shot. She lies dead near Drew's legs, he's pale and appears to have gotten ill. I don't blame him at all, or think any less of him. He's also been spattered with Katie's blood, I'm surprised he isn't losing it right now. "Killed the mouthy one I see," our captor comments with a laugh.

"She went nuts," the other one shrugs.

"Tie those two up, just tie them together," our first captor says shoving the straps at me. He holds Clare's arm tightly and holds the gun to her head to make sure that I do.

I take the straps and walk over to Adam and Alli, using one strap I get it around their chests. I try to keep it loose but the other captor, the one with a shotgun, comes over and tightens the strap. He tells them to sit and puts two more around them, just around their chest and arms but they can't move. Now the only ones not bound are me and Clare, our captors seem to realize this as well.

"What about these two?" Asks the one with the shotgun looking at me and Clare. "I think we should take them upstairs and have some fun with them," he grins lecherously.

"DON'T YOU FUCKING TOUCH THEM!" Drew yells.

"NO," yells Adam.

"Don't touch my sister," Jake growls weakly. He's losing an awful lot of blood, he's looking pale, I fully expect him to pass out at any moment.

"SHUT UP!" Screams the captor with the hand gun and a grip on Clare. "Next one to speak gets a bullet in the head," he says and no one else speaks. "Before we have fun with these two we'd better go check on the other one. If he's not dead and managed to get away we're in deep shit. We'll tie these two together and then we can take them upstairs together," he grins and while no one says anything I hear Drew and someone else growling. "We need something to tie these two up with. Take off your jacket," he orders Clare. She looks at him, but she doesn't move. "I said take it off," he demands in harder tone as he cocks the gun.

Clare whimpers a little and begins taking off her jacket. Under her thick jacket she has a long sleeve striped shirt, the man grins, grips the neckline of her shirt and tugs hard. Clare gasps and shrieks at the same time as her shirt rips and exposes her bra. Jake grits his teeth, Drew and Adam turn red, Dave's eyes narrow angrily. Tears run down Clare's face and after a moment he's got her shirt ripped completely off and torn into strips. He uses them to bind her arms from her elbows to her wrists behind her back. Then he hands her to the other man holding the shot gun. He holds Clare by her bonds and looks at her chest, he's practically salivating on her chest. If they do get us upstairs I don't think either one of us will be back.

Now that Clare is bound I'm next. He forces me to take my jacket off and rips my red sweater right off. Just as he did to Clare he binds my arms behind my back from elbows to wrists. Then he puts Clare and I back to back and ties us together, by the look in his eyes as he does this I know he's fantasizing. I shiver at the thought of what they probably have in store for me and Clare when they take us upstairs.

"Don't go nowhere now," laughs the man with the shotgun as they go upstairs.

I close my eyes and hope Owen is alive, that he got away and he's sending help. Somehow, I don't think we're that lucky.

As soon as our captors are upstairs Drew, Dave, Adam and Alli struggle to get free. We wrapped them pretty tight though. There is a chance Clare and I could get free however. We're only bound by the arms and only by torn strips of cloth.

"Clare, can you…" I start as I begin moving my arms against the bindings.

"Yeah, I think so," Clare says moving her arms too.

I can feel her hands and the cloth, I just can't feel the knots. We keep struggling until we hear the men coming back, their steps are a lot heavier this time. We hear the basement door open and then something heavy hits the steps, slides a bit and then stops. They turn off the light leaving us in darkness and then the basement door closes again.

"What do you think they threw down the stairs?" I ask Clare.

"I think it was Owen," she replies, and I swallow hard. "We can walk, we should walk to the stairs, see if we can find Owen and maybe the light switch down here," Clare comments.

I agree so we start walking sideways and find the wall, we follow the wall to the stairs. It's a bit awkward walking sideways with your back bound to another person but we have far more mobility than the others. I have to feel the wall with my side, but I feel something smooth and then a protrusion I believe to be a light switch.

"I think I found it, bend your knees a little bit we might be able to turn it on," I comment.

Clare bends her knees and we move down a little, and I manage to get the light switch. We do have light again, but I almost wish we didn't when I see the sight on the stairs. Owen lies there unconscious on the wooden steps, he looks fairly unscathed, but his face is red, his nose is blue, his lips are blue. I really hope minor frostbite is the least of his injuries, I know the guy hit him pretty hard with the shovel.

"Come on," Clare says. With some maneuvering we make it to the steps and climb up. Owen takes up too much of the steps for us to get to him. All we can do is reach his feet, I don't want to tug him down the steps because he'll hit his head on the steps. He probably already has a concussion at least, I really don't want to cause him further injury.

"Owen," I call his name loudly and hit his foot as hard as I can. He doesn't move, or react at all. "Damn it Owen wake up, we need you," I say loudly. I can feel Clare doing something with her hands, I can't tell what but a moment later Owen makes a noise. Then he starts to stir, he's waking up, he's alive and I let out a small sigh of relief. "Owen, say something, let us know you're okay," I command him with a tone full of relief because he's alive.

He groans again and his eyes blink, he opens them, looks at me and Clare and closes his eyes again. "I've had this dream before."

"This isn't a dream Owen, we've all been kidnapped by a couple of psychopaths," I remind him.

He starts to sit up and then looks like the movement might make his sick. "Ugh, I feel like I'm having a hundred hangovers at once," he groans.

"You were hit in the head with a shovel. Can you sit up long enough to free my hands?" Clare asks him, he groans again, grips the hand rail and manages to pull himself up.

With a lot of groaning and some effort he gets Clare's hands untied. He gets mine untied as well, and the one strap binding us together. He lies down again, but Clare and I manage to release the other bindings from each other's arms. We help Owen up and walk him to the others, Owen sits down and leans against the wall. Clare and I free Jenna and Jake first, While Clare is looking at Jake's leg, and applying what first aid she can I look at Owen's head.

"You've got a serious bump and a pretty bad gash, a lot of blood too, though it does seem to be clotted and drying now. It also looks like you have some frost bite on your face. Rub your nose and cheeks to get blood flow back," I instruct him.

He does start rubbing his face, he's pretty out of it though. If we're going to get out of here Owen, Jake and Jenna will be no help. Clare gets Adam and Alli free while I get Drew and Dave free.

"Guns," Owen says while I'm working on freeing Dave and Drew.

"Yes Owen, the bad men have guns," I reply back with just a touch of sarcasm in my voice.

"No, there's guns down here. Ammo too, a gun cabinet in the back," he says.

"I know how to shoot, Eli and I went hunting a couple of times," Adam speaks up.

"I can shoot too, Dad taught me," Dave comments. He and Drew are now free and rubbing their arms.

"Okay, we'll get some guns. It's just point and shoot right?" I query.

"More or less," Adam responds.

"You three stay here and just don't die on us. We'll get out of this," I say to the injured. Owen tries to smile. I think Jenna passed out, her head is in Jake's lap and she's not moving or making any noise. Jake's looking pretty pale himself and Clare is very worried about him.

The rest of us without injury walk through the shelves and find the gun cabinet at the very back. There's a few different types of guns, most seem to be shot guns or rifles for hunting. Adam takes one and gives one to Dave, he even gives one to Drew. I take a hand gun, never shot a gun before, but I'm not going unarmed. Alli and Clare seem to agree, though they do not take guns, Clare found hunting bows with arrows and they each take one. Adam finds the ammo, gives us all the right ammo for our guns, and Dave shows me how to turn off the safety and fire the gun. We return to the front where Clare and I put our jackets on.

"We should tiptoe up the stairs, line up and go out one by one. They haven't returned for me or Bianca yet, I think they're eating or sleeping but we need to stick together when we're up there," Clare instructs and we all nod. "And when we get out there, stay together we do not separate," Clare adds.

Drew takes the lead, followed by Adam, me, Dave, Alli and Clare. We have to tiptoe slowly to keep the wooden basement stairs from creaking. Drew opens the door slowly and steps out quietly, he goes against the wall and holds his gun up waiting for the rest of us. When we're all in a single file line against the wall Drew moves forward slowly. We can hear our captors, they're close, in the fun room it sounds like because we can hear the TV.

"Clare, Alli stay here and call 911," Adam instructs when we get to the kitchen.

They nod, Clare carefully and quietly picks up the phone. Adam, Dave and I follow Drew through the formal dining room. He peeks through the door and nods that they are in there. We start to move through the door but keep low, trying to crawl quietly and hold a gun is not easy. Though we try to be covert they hear us or see us. The one that hit Owen with the shovel suddenly jumps up and turns around.

"Fuck they got loose!"

 **Okay yes, this time I'm being mean and you'll have a wait for the next chapter, which will pick up from right here.**

 **The one shot this round is** _ **Sexy is My Favorite Color.**_


	3. Drifting on an Empty Sea of Waves of Sad

**Hope you all enjoyed the first two chapters.**

 **Oh, and in this story there are no Ice Hounds, just the DeGrassi hockey team.**

 **Ch. 3 Drifting on an Empty Sea of Waves of Sadness**

 **(DREW)**

Grabbing their guns the two men leap over the back of the sofa, Dave jumps up and fires, hitting one in the arm. Bianca leaps up next, she fires too but misses. Adam stays low firing from the ground and getting one in the leg. The one Adam hits fires his gun but misses as he's struck by Adam's bullet. I duck behind the pool table aiming low and get one in the foot, he yells and then falls. Dave fires again and hits the one I just shot, Dave's bullet strikes him in the stomach as he falls to the floor. The gunfire must attract Alli and Clare because they come running around the corner. Alli gasps watching the one on the floor bleed out. The other one is still moving, but Clare pulls back on her bow and lets loose with an arrow. Either Clare is incredible with a bow and arrow or she gets incredibly lucky because the arrow hits the man in the chest. He makes a wheezing gasp, a gurgling sound and then he falls to the floor on his face.

"The cops are coming," Clare says as she sets the bow down, "ambulances too."

"We should go check on the others," Bianca speaks up.

"I'll stay here until the cops come, this one is still bleeding out," I tell them. I'm watching the one I hit, he's alive but barely.

"I'll stay with Drew," Dave says.

The others go downstairs to check on the injured, Dave and I stay up here. Watching the one guy bleed out, just as he begins to fade I start to hear sirens. We set down all the guns and the cops come in, they come in holding guns and order me and Dave to the ground. I know they're trying to figure out what's going on, but I don't like being handcuffed.

"What the hell are you doing? Not them, they're my friends, the bad guys are dead," Clare snaps at the cops. They both just look at her, then each other, neither one has gotten off me or Dave yet. "I called 911, now get off of my friends, we have injured down here that require immediate attention," she commands them.

Finally, the cops listen and get off of us, they call the EMTs in and Clare takes them downstairs. One of the cops stays here while Dave and I tell him what happened. The injured are attended by the EMTs, but all three are airlifted to the closest hospital. The rest of us follow the cops to the police station, in Owen's SUV, to give our statements. We call our parents to let them know we're okay, those were some interesting phone calls. Mom says she'll call Owen's parents. Once we've let our parents know we're alive we're separated to give our statements. At least one of the cops gives me a hoodie to put on so I can take off my snow jacket with Katie's blood spattered on it. When we're finally done we go to the hospital to see our friends.

"We're here to see Jake Martin, Jenna Middleton and Owen Milligan," Adam tells the reception nurse.

"Are you family?"

"I'm Jake's sister, our parents are all in Toronto they won't get here until tomorrow," Clare tells her.

The nurse nods and types on her computer a couple of minutes. "Owen and Jake are here, but Jenna was stabilized before being airlifted to Toronto Western. Owen is in room twelve upstairs and Jake in room ten. Visiting hours are over but you can see them for a couple of minutes."

"Thanks," I reply. We take the elevator upstairs and find Jake's room, we let Clare go in first but follow her in. Jake is watching TV but turns it off when we come in.

"How do you feel?" Clare asks him.

"Tired, but I'll be alright. They removed the bullet, they said I'd be okay once it heals. A few days in the hospital and some physical therapy. Did you call our parents?"

"Yeah, they're coming up tomorrow with the other parents. We all gave statements and the police station, and the two men are dead," Clare tells him.

"Good," Jake smiles.

"The nurse said we could only stay a couple of minutes. Jenna was airlifted out, but we want to see Owen before they kick us out," I tell Jake.

He nods, Clare kisses his forehead and we leave Jake's room for Owen's room next door. He looks like he's sleeping but when I lead the group in he opens his eyes.

"Hey," he says a little weakly.

"Hey, how you feelin'?"

"Out of it, they said I got a concussion and a couple broken ribs but looks like I'm going to make it. How are Jake and Jenna?"

"Jake will be okay, he lost a lot of blood, but a few days in the hospital and he can come home. Jenna was stabilized and airlifted to Toronto Western," Clare tells him. Owen nods and closes his eyes again.

"The nurse said we could only stay a few minutes, we'll let you get some rest," I speak up. We say goodbye to Owen and get back in his SUV.

"Drew," Clare speaks up from the backseat.

"Yeah?"

"I don't want to go back to the cabin. I'm pretty sure it's a crime scene anyway," Clare says.

"I don't think any of us want to go back to the cabin, let's go find a hotel," I reply.

I find a hotel and we get a room with two queen beds, we could have gotten two rooms, but I don't think any of us will sleep. Anyway, when I offered to get two rooms all the girls said no. We know the men are dead, doesn't mean any of us will sleep, I think we're all still in shock over it al. I know I am, I know Katie is dead, I saw her get shot, but it all seems so unreal.

I use the emergency credit card from Mom to pay for the room, I'm sure she'll be okay with it. All our stuff is still at the cabin, so once we're in the room everyone gets as comfortable as they can. Shoes and socks come off, most of us take off our jeans, that's about it. I turn on the TV while Dave and Alli claim one bed, Adam and I sit on the other and then Clare and Bianca put pillows against our legs and lean against us. No one sleeps, no one says much, we just sit there mindlessly watching TV for the rest of the night.

"We should get some breakfast, I'll call Mom and find out when the parents are coming up," I comment when I see the sun is starting to rise.

"I'm not hungry," Clare replies.

"We haven't eaten in almost a day, we need to eat," Adam tells her. She nods slowly in response.

We're all pretty stiff after not moving for a night, we get up and get clothes and shoes back on. I ask the hotel to hold the room for us, and then we go to a nearby diner. No one is extremely hungry, but we manage some coffee and a little food. After breakfast I call Mom and she says all the parents are on the road and they'll call when they get to into town. Owen and Jake's parents are going to the hospital first. After eating we go back to the hotel and stay until Mom calls. I tell her what hotel we're at and a short time later there's a knock on the door. Adam opens it and Mom hugs him tightly, Dad follows her in and hugs me, Clare's mom is hugging her so tightly that it looks like Clare is being smothered. Jake's Dad must have gone alone to the hospital with Owen's parents. Alli's parents and Dave's mom come in to hug their children, we find out Dave's dad is at the police station to talk to his fellow cops. Of course, Bianca's aunt didn't come, but my parents hug her. Since the parents took all day to drive here they take us to dinner and get some hotel rooms. The six of us stay in the same hotel room again, and none of the parents say anything about it.

The next morning the cops let us go back to the cabin to get our things, only none of us want to go back. Instead the parents go to gather our stuff, and the other cars, Mom gives me the keys to the minivan and we start driving back. Owen and Jake won't be released from the hospital until tomorrow, so their dads are staying to drive them back tomorrow in Owen's SUV.

Our drive back is solemn and silent, it's New Year's Eve and we should all be celebrating but no one wants to celebrate. I take us all back to my house, I don't even ask, but I'm sure that no one wants to go home to an empty house. Our parents, except for Owen and Jake's dads who stayed, and Owen's mom who went home to be with his little brother, arrive at my house a couple hours later. Mom orders pizza and we eat a little, we're awake at midnight but no one kisses, no one even says happy new year. Dave and Alli go home with their parents after midnight. Clare, Bianca and Clare's mom all sleep at our house. The four of us kids sleep in the basement, with the curtains closed and the door securely locked. Helen sleeps in Adam's room, I think she was able to get some sleep, but none of us slept.

New Year's Day the only thing there is to celebrate is that Owen and Jake get home that night. We do go to the hospital to see Jenna, but she's in bad shape and unconscious, we only stay a couple of minutes. When Clare and Alli begin sobbing we leave the room. School resumes tomorrow, and I have no idea how any of us are going to make it through.

 **(CLARE)**

"Are you sure you both want to go to school?" Mom asks.

"I don't want to be home all day," I reply stabbing my spoon into my oatmeal.

"Me either, even hobbling through school on crutches will be better than staying here, alone, in silence," Jake replies.

He came home last night, driving back with Glen, Owen and his dad. Jake is on crutches, unable to put weight on his leg right now. He was happy to be home and out of the hospital, but he only slept last night because of the drugs the doctor gave him. I stayed on the phone all night with Adam and Drew. None of us could sleep, I'm sure Alli was on the phone all night with Dave.

"Alright, but if either of you needs to come home for any reason call me or Glen and we'll come get you," Mom tells us.

I nod before getting up to put the rest of my oatmeal down the disposal. Helping Jake with his backpack I take the keys and drive us to school, Jake can't exactly drive with his leg. When we get to school we find the road in blocked by police, and a swarm of reporters outside the police barricade. Apparently, word has reached Toronto about what happened up at the cabin. The reporters begin to swarm the truck, I almost hit one of them. Officer Turner and some other officers force them back and wave us through. I park the truck and get Jake's crutches out of the back. Once he has the crutches I start to grab our backpacks from the back before a hand reaches in to get Jake's.

"Need a hand?" Owen asks.

"You're here, how's your head?" I question.

"It's okay," Owen replies as Jake begins hobbling on his crutches and we walk just behind him. "Doc said to take it easy though and go home if I have a headache. And no sports for two weeks which really sucks, that means no hockey. I figured here was better than being home all day alone though. Can't believe the reporters found out so fast, they were even at the house. They found out it was our cabin, Tris almost fainted when he opened the front door this morning and had his picture taken."

"I'm glad they weren't at our house this morning, I would have hurt one of them. Where is Tristan?" I inquire realizing I haven't seen him but presumably he and Owen got there just before we did.

"He ran ahead, he didn't want to take the chance that a reporter was smart enough to sneak through the ravine."

"Oh no, you don't think they will do you?" I query and begin looking around as I expect a reporter to jump out at us at any moment.

"They might try, I tipped off Turner and called an old friend that still hangs out at the ravine. He said he'd keep any reporters from getting through," Owen says, and I let out a sigh of relief.

"I'm going up the ramp through the garden, no way am I doing the front stairs with these things," Jake says getting slightly out of breath.

"We'll come with you," I tell Jake.

We go through the garden and Owen holds open the door. Jake hobbles as far as a bench and sits down, so we sit with him. We're only sitting a couple minutes before Bianca wanders over and joins us.

"Where the hell were you last night?" Owen asks her.

"Slept at Chloe's, didn't think Mrs. Torres wanted me at their house anymore," Bianca shrugs.

"You can stay at our house tonight, I am not going another night worried about you," Owen says in a scolding tone.

"You're cute when you worry," Bianca grins pinching Owen's cheek and he scowls at her, "anyway the bad men are dead, nothing to worry about."

"The bad men are dead, so why isn't it any easier to sleep at night?" I question without expecting an answer.

Instead of an answer Drew and Adam join us, they say nothing just lean on the wall next to us. Then Alli and Dave join us, and here we all are, survivors of two psychotics. Two evil men who happened upon us in the woods, killed three of our friends, injured three more, wanted to rape me and Bianca, but we survived.

When the bell rings for first period it grinds at everyone's nerves. It's shriller and louder than I remember, it sounds like a scream to me. I inadvertently grab the arm of the person next to me, it's Owen's arm, but he doesn't seem to mind, actually he sort of hugs me with his other arm. We all move slowly, getting up and walking to our first classes. Jake and Drew have the same first period, so Drew takes Jake's backpack. Owen and Bianca part from us as well, but Dave, Alli, Adam and I have the same first period class. We sit at our desks and the teacher begins taking attendance when an announcement comes over the intercom.

"Clare Edwards, Bianca De Sousa, Alli Bhandari, Dave Turner, Jake Martin, Owen Milligan, Drew and Adam Torres to the principal's office."

I hear kids whispering, no one says anything out loud, but I hear them whispering as the four of us leave class. We meet up with the others before we even get to principal Simpson's office. When we do enter his office, we see Officer Turner is with him, and I get a sinking feeling in my stomach.

"What's going on Dad?" Dave asks.

"Jenna died," Officer Turner reveals, and I feel sick all of a sudden. I lean on the person behind me feeling my legs begin to falter. It's Adam and he puts an arm around me.

"How? When?" Alli questions. I see that she's leaning heavily on Dave. Jake is the only one sitting, but his head is down, and I can't see his expression.

"Earlier this morning, the hospital didn't know who to contact. They don't know the exact cause yet, but they believe it was her injuries. They think her internal injuries were more severe than they realized, and that they may have missed some internal bleeding. The press doesn't know yet, we'll keep it that way for as long as we can. We're trying to keep the press from getting any of your names, but the press has their ways," Officer Turner informs us.

"None of you need to be here, you can go home any time today or tomorrow. We'll be holding a memorial service here at the school tomorrow for Katie, Marisol, Mo and now Jenna too," Principal Simpson says.

"I don't want to go home, but I don't really want to return to homeroom either," I speak up and everyone else nods in agreement.

"An announcement is being given in all the homeroom classes right now. Miss Sauvé is informing K.C. personally and she'll be meeting with kids in the auditorium today. She's offered her office to any of you that want to be here but not be in class today," Simpson tells us.

"Yeah, I think I'll go there," Adam says.

All of us walk slowly to Miss Sauvé's office and sit down. Jake sits on the sofa, sitting sideways to put his injured leg on the sofa. Bianca sits at Jake's feet on the sofa. I hop onto Miss Sauvé's desk, Owen and Adam do the same on either side of me. Drew sits in her desk chair, Dave and Alli take the chairs on the other side of her desk. We sit in silence until the bell rings and it startles me to the point of gasping. Then it's back to sitting in silence, in our own thoughts, we don't even move when the lunch bell rings.

"Principal Simpson said I could find you guys here," Eli says walking in. He gives everyone a sympathetic look, but he walks over to me and Adam. "Can I do anything? Get you guys some lunch?"

"I'm not hungry, thanks anyway Eli," I reply.

"Yeah, me either," Adam says.

"Are you sure you all want to spend the day here? I'm betting you haven't moved since you got here," Eli comments.

"I don't want to be here, I don't want to be home. I can't explain it I just don't," I tell him.

"You don't have to explain it, I know how you're feeling. I didn't want to be anywhere after Julia died. Why don't you all go to my house, my dad is off work, so he'll be there if the media does manage to find you, and my room is clean now," Eli remarks which makes me and Adam smile. "My place is more comfortable than Miss Sauvé's office. I'm sure my parents won't mind."

"Thanks Eli, being at your place does sound better than this," I nod.

"Yeah, I'd rather be there," Adam agrees.

"Me too," Drew says standing up.

The others nod in agreement and it's settled. Eli holds his hand out to me and I get off the desk. Having sat on it for the last three hours I realize just how stiff I am. Everyone is, we all groan as we get up, and walk slowly to Principal Simpson's office. Of course, we'd walk slowly anyway with Jake hobbling on crutches. Simpson says we can all go to Eli's, Adam comes with Jake and I in the truck, Alli goes with Dave in his car and Owen takes Bianca and Drew. Getting out of the parking lot is the hard thing, the reporters are swarming all the cars that are leaving. It's a good thing that it's lunch and we're not the only ones leaving.

Eli must have called ahead because Bullfrog is waiting for us. He opens the door and lets us in but doesn't say anything. Jake seems to decide that going up the stairs is too hard because he sits on the sofa. Bianca, Owen, Dave and Alli stay with him, Adam and I go up to Eli's room, the padlock is gone now, and the room is clean. Drew follows us and we all sit on Eli's bed. Back to sitting silent again. Feeling a familiarity in Eli's room, feeling safe, and the lack of sleep I drift off, waking sometime later to Drew screaming. Adam and I both bolt up, guess we all fall asleep.

"Drew, Drew wake up it's just a nightmare," Adam says loudly while shaking his brother. Just as Drew's eyes shoot open I hear running up the stairs.

"You guys okay?" Owen asks. Bianca and Bullfrog are just behind him but when he sees that we're all okay Bullfrog leaves.

"Drew had a nightmare," I tell Owen as he and Bianca come in the room.

"A nightmare that happened, Katie's dead. They shot her in the head right in front of me," Drew says before putting his head down and breaking into tears.

Adam begins rubbing Drew's back, I put my hand on his arm and Owen sits on the bed near me, but Bianca leaves the room and goes back downstairs. I wish I could be more comforting. Nothing we say or do can take that memory from Drew. Eventually Drew cries himself back to sleep, Adam lies down with his brother and I feel heavy with sleep again, soon I'm back to sleep.

This time I'm the one with the nightmare, waking up with a quick gasp, it's late afternoon and I'm sandwiched between Owen and Adam, everyone else is asleep. Everyone except Eli, he's sitting at his desk doing homework, or at least he was until I woke up, now he's looking at me. Not wanting to wake the others I carefully slide off the bed, I walk out to the hallway and Eli follows me. Quietly closing the bedroom door behind us I sit on the top step and he sits next to me.

"It will get better Clare, the pain, the hurt, that empty feeling, time will lessen all of those," Eli tries to assure me.

"It's not just that, I miss Jenna and am feeling her loss and shock that she died. I suppose they never told us Jenna was okay, but they said she'd been stabilized, guess it was foolish to think she was going to be okay. When we saw her in the hospital she…no, she looked bad, but it doesn't change that I thought she'd be okay with time. I knew Katie pretty well from working on the paper, but we weren't really friends, I'm sad that she died, I feel awful that she was shot right in front of Drew. Mo and Marisol, I didn't really know at all, I'm sorry that they died, and I feel the loss because they died, not in the same way I feel Jenna's. More than all that, I don't feel safe Eli, not really. I know the men are dead, I helped to kill one of them, yet knowing they're dead I still don't feel safe, not at home or really at school. It's hard to go to sleep, and every time I hear a noise outside or in the dark I think it's one of them coming after us again."

"Do you feel safe here?" Eli asks.

"Yeah," I smile at Eli, "I do feel pretty safe here. Did we all fall asleep here?"

"Jake and Bianca are asleep on the sofa, Alli's parents came and got her and Dave decided to go home since his dad is home. Because most everyone was finally getting some sleep we didn't want to wake you guys. My parents said everyone could spend the night, everyone that wants to anyway."

"I'd like to sleep here. Guess I should call my mom," I comment.

"When Alli and Dave went home we called everyone's parents, we weren't sure when people would wake up. Everyone's parents said it was okay, or to call them if you wanted to go home. Are you hungry or anything?"

"Not really, but I haven't eaten all day I should probably eat."

Eli smiles and takes my hand. We go quietly down the stairs and into his kitchen. Bullfrog and Cece must be out or in their bedroom because I haven't seen them. I make myself a sandwich and Eli sits with me. Everyone else wakes up in the next couple of hours and everyone decides to stay the night. Jake, Bianca, Adam, Drew and Owen all manage to eat a little, about as much as I did. Mom and Glen bring Jake and I everything we need for tonight and tomorrow; Audra and Omar do the same for Adam and Drew. Owen's mom brings what he needs and brings Bianca a new toothbrush and a change of clothes for tomorrow.

Even though I slept most of the afternoon by ten I'm ready to sleep again and so are the others. Jake, Bianca and Owen sleep downstairs while Adam, Drew and I sleep with Eli in his room. Eli gives me the bed and he sleeps on the floor with the other boys. Even though we all wake up after a nightmare at some point that night we do get some sleep, much needed sleep.

Despite the sleep I wake up Friday morning with a heavy feeling, but maybe that's because I'm not looking forward to the memorial at school today. We all get ready for school, no one eats breakfast including Eli, and then we make a motorcade to school. Jake, Bianca and me in Jake's truck, in Owen's SUV he has Adam, Drew and Eli. There's reporters at the school again but the cops are holding them back and we're able to get through.

All classes are canceled today, when homeroom would be starting we all gather in the auditorium. Dave is here, but I don't see Alli. Miss Sauvé leads our group in, which includes Eli this morning, but not Alli. On the stage are Katie's parents, K.C. and four other people I believe to be Mo and Marisol's parents, but I've never seen them before. On the screen behind the podium pictures of Katie, Mo, Marisol and Jenna are playing in a slideshow. I don't know about the others, but I find the slideshow hard to watch, thinking of them only makes me think about what happened at the cabin.

"Dave, where's Alli?" I question him.

"She's not coming, she said she just couldn't and she wanted to stay home. I offered to come over and she said she just wanted to be alone," he replies.

I nod, I know how she feels, at this moment I don't want to be here either. Adam is sitting next to me, he must know how I feel because he puts his arm around me.

"We'll get through it together Clare," Adam tells me.

Owen, sitting on my other side, takes my hand. I give each of them a small appreciative smile and the service begins. Principal Simpson talks about each of those who have passed, then one of their parents gets up to say a few things. Since Jenna's family isn't here K.C. talks about her, and I begin crying on Adam's shoulder. Simpson lets other people come on stage to talk if they want, one of the girls from the power squad talks about Marisol, a girl from the soccer team about Katie, a guy from the football team says a few things about Mo and Connor talks about Jenna. When the service is over Principal Simpson encourages kids to talk to the grief counselors and remind everyone not to talk to the media. Other kids start to leave, our group begins to get up, but we stay where we are, I think we're not sure where to go or what to do now.

"You killed our children," Marisol's mom hisses at Owen. Her words are laced with venom and the tall muscular football player flinches.

"Owen didn't kill anyone, two psychotic men found us. They killed Katie, Mo and Marisol, injured Owen, Jake and Jenna ultimately killing her and tormented the rest of us. Owen had as much control over what happened as you did when you let your children go on the trip," I snarl at her as hot tears run down my cheeks. Marisol's mom pulls back and then hangs her head in shame.

"Thanks Clare," Owen smiles.

"I think we should go, everyone can come back to my house," Eli offers.

"Yeah, I don't want to be here anymore," I nod.

"I'm going to go check on Alli," Dave tells us.

The rest of us go back to Eli's and spend the rest of the day mostly in silence as we all sit in his room. We don't spend the night tonight, around dinner time we all go home or get picked up. Jake and I spend the rest of the night watching TV and not sleeping. There's a public memorial today at Riverdale Community Center. I don't want to go, but Mom says it will do me and Jake good. Reluctantly, Jake and I get dressed and we go to the community center with our parents. As soon as we get there Jake and I look for the others. We see Owen, Drew, Adam and Bianca in one corner and we go to them.

"Have any of you seen Dave or Alli?" I ask. They all shake their heads. "Maybe, I should call Alli, I probably should have called her yesterday," I comment getting my phone out.

"Clare," Adam says touching my arm and nodding behind me. I turn to see Officer Turner approaching us, he has a grim look on his face and my heart begins to pound.

"Kids can you follow me for a moment?" Officer Turner requests.

"What's going on? Where's Dave?" I ask nervously.

"Let's go out to the hall," he repeats.

Jake leads the way on his crutches, Owen and Bianca follow, Drew behind them, Adam takes my hand and we follow his brother. Officer Turner follows us out and, looks around and when he sees people close by he takes us around the corner where we're alone.

"Dave is at home. Alli was found by her parents this morning, it looks like she committed suicide," Officer Turner informs us.

My heart starts pounding so rapidly and hard I feel like it's hitting my ribcage. My breaths go shallow and tight as I feel like I can no longer breath. I feel as if all the blood in my body has been drained out. "Alli's d…" I start to say but can't get the words out and the ground comes up to meet me very fast.

 **I'm so mean, but it's a short story and chapter 4 is up now.**


	4. 4 A Horror Film Coming to Life Piece by

**As you all know I welcome story requests, but please read the section on my profile page regarding story requests before you submit an idea.**

 **Ch. 4 A Horror Film Coming to Life Piece by Piece**

 **(OWEN)**

After learning that Alli was found dead this morning of an apparent suicide Clare seems to go into shock and passes out. Her eyes roll back into her head before she suddenly drops like a dead weight. Drew, Adam and I all reach for her but I get her first, catching her and picking her up. Jake lets out a breath once Clare is in my arms.

"I think we shouldn't be here, we were at the school memorial yesterday and barely made it through that, and now with Alli…" Adam's sentence trails off before he says she's dead.

"Let's go to our house, I'm sure Mom won't mind," Drew speaks up just as Clare groans in my arms. Her eyes blink open and she looks at me.

"What happened?" She questions, her voice is pretty weak.

"You passed out," Adam tells her.

"Don't worry, I got you," I assure her, smiling from one corner of my mouth. She doesn't ask me to put her down, doesn't even try to get out of my arms, just puts her head on my chest and her arms around my neck.

"We're going to our house Clare, we don't need to be here," Adam tells her and then looks at Officer Turner. "Can you let our parents know that we're all going to our house, and let Dave know he can come over too."

"I will," Officer Turner nods. "Let me escort you kids out first. Are you okay Clare?"

She doesn't respond, just hides her head in my chest some more and sobs. We get escorted to the parking lot and I tell them we can all go in my SUV. Since Jake is on crutches I give him the passenger seat. When Drew is sitting in the back I give Clare to him and she rides on his lap. She barely lifts her head and just cries on his shoulder all the way to the Torres house.

"Clare, we're here," Drew tells her when I park.

I hear her sniffle and see her wipe her eyes in the rearview mirror. She gets out of the car, Adam puts his arm around her as we walk inside. Drew unlocks the front door and comes down to let the rest of us in waiting at the basement door. We let Jake hobble in first and get a seat, Clare sits next to him and Adam next to her. Drew next to his brother, I take a seat next to him and Bianca next to me. For several minutes we all just sit there, silent.

Clare is the first to break the silence, "Now Alli's gone too. I should have called her yesterday or gone over, talked to her."

"Don't start thinking that way Clare, you had just as much responsibility for Alli's actions as I did for Mo, Marisol, Katie and Jenna's death. If she was set on killing herself after Jenna's death there's nothing you could have done. If you blame yourself you could drive yourself to do the same," I tell Clare. She nods but doesn't seem convinced, we're silent again until Dave comes through basement door. Clare gets up and hugs him tightly.

"Did you see her yesterday?" Clare asks Dave.

"No, I called her before school to ask if she wanted me to pick her up for the memorial and she said she wasn't going. I tried calling her after and she didn't pick up. I should have gone over anyway, I thought she just needed to be alone," Dave says solemnly as he sits down and Clare takes her seat again.

"Did your dad say how Alli…all he told us was that it looks like she committed suicide," Adam remarks.

"Pills, he said there was an empty bottle of pills near her," Dave replies.

"I can't believe Alli would kill herself," Clare exhales. She's beginning to tear up again, I reach over to put a hand on her shoulder.

"Neither can I, but she was devastated after Jenna, maybe after everything losing Jenna too was just too much for her," Dave says though he doesn't sound very sure himself.

We go silent again, sitting there nearly motionless and in silence until our parents begin to arrive because the memorial is over. They brought us lunch, but no one is very hungry, and Audra tells all the parents we can stay here tonight. At some point someone turns the TV on, at some point they order us pizza for dinner, other than that the only thing I remember about the day is people crying. No one cried all day, but most of us cried at some point during the day. I think Clare cried the most, mostly on Adam, and all he can do is hold her. There's nothing any of us can do, a part of me is just in shock I think. A part of me keeps thinking I'm going to wake up and it will all have been a horrible dream.

I don't remember going to sleep, no one brought down pillows or blankets or got ready for bed, we all just kind of fell asleep on the sofa to the TV. When I wake up Sunday morning I feel heavy, and exhausted even though I didn't do anything yesterday. We spend most of the day at the Torres house again, but by mid-afternoon everyone has gone home or been picked up by their parents. Bianca was one of the first to leave, I asked if she wanted to stay at my place tonight, but she shrugged and left. I'm sure she'll sleep at Chloe's again tonight and may not come to school tomorrow. I'm the last to leave and when I get home the house is surrounded by reporters.

"Any comment on the events at your family's cabin?"

"Owen, did you know the men that attacked your friends?"

"Why weren't you at the memorial yesterday?"

The reporters fire off questions and I ignore them, running into the house. If I don't ignore them I'm going to hit one of them. I'm beginning to hate the media, there are some things they really don't need to report on but do anyway, because of people's morbid curiosity and that seems to be the only reason they swarm around desperate for any tidbit. I wish they'd just leave us alone.

I lock the door as soon as I'm inside, I don't see Tris or Dad, but Mom is in the kitchen. She comes over and hugs me tightly. Mom gets me some dinner, I don't eat very much of it, Mom gives me her worried mom look when she takes my plate, but she doesn't say anything. After eating all I can I take a shower, going to bed early and feeling exhausted, it takes me a long time to fall asleep however.

Even with some trouble getting to sleep I wake up pretty early on Monday morning after a nightmare. It's so early my parents aren't even up, but I don't feel like hanging around the house until it's time to go to school. I decide to go to The Dot and hang there until school opens. I get ready and leave a note on the bulletin board that I'm gone, and Tris will need a ride or to take the bus this morning. I open the front door and thankfully it's too early for even the reporters to be outside. Something else catches my eye though, a note taped to the door with my name on it. I rip it down and open the folded piece of plain white paper to read it.

 **There was twelve.**

 **Now there's seven.**

 **And when you're gone there'll be six.**

It's clearly a threat, I start to get angry and crumple the note but stop myself. I hop in my SUV, but instead of going to The Dot I go straight to the police station.

"This was on my front door, we're being threatened," I inform the officer at the front, tossing the note in front of him.

"Have a seat son someone will be out in a moment," he replies callously without looking at the note.

"I want to speak to Officer Turner," I demand taking the note back.

"He doesn't come on shift for another four hours, now sit down."

"I don't care when he gets on shift call him and get him down here. If his son is being threatened don't you think he wants to know about it?" I growl louder than intended, but I'm angry.

"What's going on out here Peters?" A man asks coming out of the back. He must be a higher rank than this guy because he's wearing a suit.

"This kid was saying something about Turner's son being threatened."

"I'm not a kid, and it's not just Dave being threatened I think it's all of us. I'm Owen Milligan, my family owns the cabin where the crazy men killed some of us and now we're being threatened," I say handing the note to the man in the suit. He looks at the note before folding it again.

"Call Reggie in and get this to evidence," the man in the suit says to the cop at the desk and then looks at me. "I'm D.C. Wheaton, you can come back with me until Reggie Turner gets here. Wait at the door and I'll let you back." After giving the officer at the desk a _"so there"_ look I walk to the door and D.C. Wheaton let's me in. I follow him back to a desk and he motions for me to sit down. "Tell me exactly how you found the note, oh and we'll need your fingerprints for elimination. Did anyone else touch the note?"

"Not that I know of, I was going to leave for school and saw the note taped to my front door. I read the note and came straight here."

"A little early to be going to school isn't it?"

"Yeah, we'll I woke up after a nightmare and didn't want to hang around my house. I was going to hang at the café near my school until I could go to school."

"There were twelve of you that went to the cabin?"

"Yeah, twelve of us. Me, Drew and Adam Torres, Clare Edwards and Jake Martin, Bianca DeSousa, Dave Turner, we're the only ones still alive. Katie Matlin, Mo Mashkour and Marisol Lewis died at the cabin, or near it. We never saw where Mo and Marisol were killed. Jenna Middleton died in the hospital and Alli Bhandari committed suicide on Saturday, or so we were told."

"Mo and Marisol's partial remains were found about a mile from your cabin. It looks like animals got to them. We're still waiting on autopsy results for Jenna and Alli both. Has anyone else received threats that you're aware of?"

"No, no one's said anything to me if they have, but it leaked to the media that it was our cabin. Marisol's mom yelled at me last Friday after the memorial at school. What about the men that killed our friends and held us hostage, do you know who they are?"

"There was no ID on them, their fingerprints aren't in our system. Their general descriptions do match two men from a group that was on a crime spree in and around Ottawa, we have no confirmation of that though."

"Lou? What's going on? Carl called and said to get down here," Officer Turner asks coming in. "Owen? What happened?"

"There was a threatening note on his door this morning. I sent it down to evidence. The note was pretty threatening, not just to Owen, but all the kids at the cabin. Even though it's only been in the media that it was Owen's family's cabin the other kids have been seen and the other families know who went to the cabin. I don't think it was one of the families, or the media trying to stir something up, more than likely it's just a nasty trick. You know how these things get. I'll put a patrol on the school today and the houses of the other kids in case our note writer visits them as well. Your son was at the cabin as well, so that will include your house. We need to get Owen's fingerprints to eliminate them from the note, I touched it as well. After he's fingerprinted he can go, but you should escort him to school, I'll have another officer escort Dave."

"Come on Owen I'll get your fingerprints," Officer Turner says. I get up and follow him to the little fingerprinting station. Officer Turner asks what the note said, I tell him, when I'm done he just nods. "Lou is right it's probably just a nasty trick," he says but I hear worry in his tone.

"Yeah, well if it is a trick the person playing it has one sick mind. We're hardly getting any sleep as it is, now we gotta worry about crazy mean people with nothing better to do than taunt us," I remark trying to wash the ink off my fingers. Turner gave me an alcohol wipe, like the kind in first-aid kit, to get the ink off, but it's not entirely working.

"We'll find out who it is, you heard Lou there will be a patrol at the school and your houses. You know the school doesn't open for almost an hour still."

"Yeah, I was going to The Dot, I could really use some coffee right now."

"I'll follow you in my patrol car and I'll call Archie Simpson, have him open the school early. We'll get you all to the school early, you'll be safe there."

"Great, let's go get some coffee first, I have a feeling I'm going to need it today."

 **(CLARE)**

"Honey, wake up," Mom says shaking me gently, "you and Jake need to get to school."

I groan and grab my phone from the nightstand to check the time. When I see the time, I groan even louder. "Mom, it's not even six yet, the school isn't open."

"I got a call from Audra; all you kids need to get to the school. Glen will drive you now up young lady."

I barely slept at all, but I know something is going on, so I get up. We don't eat breakfast, just do the minimal to get ready for school. Glen drives us in Mom's car and I let Jake have the passenger seat. When Glen starts driving I see the police car pull out behind us.

"Glen, what's going on? Why do we all have to be at school so early and why are we being followed by a cop car?" I ask. Jake looks behind us to see the cop car, and then looks at me with a worried expression. I think we both have the same terrible thought.

"We were just told to get you to the school to keep you safe," Glen replies.

"Keep us safe from what Dad?" Jake asks.

"We didn't ask," he replies, and Jake looks back at me.

"Did someone else die? Are we being put on suicide watch?" I inquire.

"I don't know Clare. We're almost at the school," Glen responds.

I pull my bottom lip into my teeth and begin rolling my lower lip with my teeth, chewing on it nervously as the last block to school seems to last forever. When we get to school Glen pulls up to the ramp, I see three more cop cars and the cop that followed us parks and walks in with us. We're taken to Principal Simpson's office. When we enter I see not only Principal Simpson, but Officer Turner, Drew, Adam, Owen and Bianca, I'm so happy to see them alive I hug them all. Dave is the last to arrive and I hug him too, at least I know everyone is still alive.

"Okay, we're all here, someone want to tell me why I was dragged out of bed so early?" Bianca yawns while Dave is being hugged by his dad.

"Because some sick fuck left a threatening note on my door this morning, the note made it sound like we're all in danger. The cops agreed with me which is why we all had the police escorts to school this morning," Owen informs us.

"The protection is a precaution, we do believe it was someone playing a trick to be mean or to scare you. Sadly, in these situations there always seems to be someone that thinks it will be funny or wants to make themselves feel powerful or in some cases trying to extort money. We've done what we can to keep most of you out of the media, however you have all been seen together, the families know who went to the cabin and I imagine a lot of the kids at this school. There's an undercover unit posted at each of your houses just to be safe," Officer Turner tells us.

"You're safe at the school, and Officer Turner will be here all day. A unit will be patrolling, and more uniforms will be called in if the media shows up again," Principal Simpson informs us.

"I need coffee," Bianca says and most of us nod.

"Let's go to the caf, it's not as good as coffee from The Dot, but it's better than nothing," Dave remarks.

We move as a group to the caf, going slowly because Jake is hobbling on crutches. Officer Turner stays a few paces behind us and even stays in the caf with us. We all get coffee, we sit and begin sipping the coffee silently.

"You look worse than I do," Bianca says to Dave after a few silent minutes.

"Couldn't sleep at all last night, if my eyes closed I either pictured Alli killing herself or watching that psycho toss Jenna down the steps," Dave replies.

"They're waiting on autopsy results for Jenna and Alli," Owen speaks up.

"When did you hear that?" I inquire.

"This morning when I was at the police station. They still don't know who the men were or why they found us. They did find what was left of Mo and Marisol, they think animals got to them," Owen informs us.

"Did they tell you anything else?" Adam asks.

"Not really, just that the men might be part of a group that split up after a crime spree in Ottawa. They aren't sure that the two men were a part of that group though. That was it, they talked about the note and I got fingerprinted so they could eliminate my prints from the note."

"What did the note say?" I query.

"It had my first name on the top, inside it said; there was twelve, now there's seven and when you're gone there'll be six. Sounded to me like someone was saying we were getting picked off one by one."

"That's scary, I do hope it's someone playing a nasty trick," I remark. Everyone else nods in agreement. "We did kill those men, right? I mean there isn't anyone that could be picking us off one by one, could there?" I ask in a voice tight with fear.

"We killed them, they're dead. Dave and I watched the last one die. I don't think you get resurrected from an arrow in the chest or a couple of bullets," Drew says. After this everyone falls silent.

"Eli's coming," Adam whispers to me. I saw him on his phone, but didn't realize he was texting Eli, too caught up in my thoughts I guess. Sure enough, a couple minutes later Eli enters the caf, Drew moves over so that Eli can sit next to Adam.

"So, you guys are being threatened now?" Eli questions.

"The cops think it's a mean prank, which I hop it is, but whoever has that sick of a mind needs to have it pounded out of their skull," Owen growls.

"You're all welcome to hang at my house, any time, I know my parents won't mind," Eli says.

"Thanks Eli," I grin.

The closer it gets to the first bell the more students come in and out of the caf. I can't help but look at each one and wonder if they're the one that left the note on Owen's door. It might be my imagination, but it also seems like everyone that enters the caf looks at our group. When the bell does finally ring we all get up and split up to get to class. Drew walks with Jake, Bianca walks with Owen and Turner follows them. Eli comes with Adam, Dave and I to our homeroom before he goes to his. The three of us have the same second period too, K.C. never comes to second period but I see him leaving Principal Simpson's office at lunch.

"K.C., why weren't you in second period?"

"I'm leaving DeGrassi, Mom and I have been talking about moving to Vancouver for a while. Her sister is there, and we can stay with her. I was going to wait and finish my year here, but with Jenna gone…" his sentence trails off and he starts to tear up.

"I'm going to miss you," I say hugging him tightly.

"I'll miss all of you too, but I'm only an e-mail or text away," he reminds me. He hugs Adam too and then says he's going to go find a few other people to say goodbye.

"I'm not that hungry, I think I'm going to go to the music room," Adam tells me when K.C. leaves.

"I'm not that hungry either, think I'll check with Jake and see if he needs anything."

"Just don't go outside alone," Adam tells me, and I nod.

He walks off and I text Jake, he says he's good and Bianca's with him. I don't know Owen or Drew's numbers, so I text Dave, he says he's eating in the caf with Connor and Wes. I'm not hungry either, and definitely not in the mood for Connor and Wes. I start walking sort of aimlessly, I find Eli or maybe he finds me. We sit in the memorial garden and I watch him eat while we talk about little things. He tries to get me to eat, but I just have no appetite. My mind is trying to wrap itself around the events of the last few days, the problem is none of what's happened makes any sense.

I really am not paying attention in either afternoon class, but no one seems to notice or care. When the bell rings I go to find Jake, Glen brought us to school and never said anything about how we would get home. Adam comes with me, and except for Dave, we find the rest of our group at Jake's locker.

"I told Jake I'd take you two home since you got dropped off. I'm going to hang out to do some homework too," Bianca informs me.

"Thanks Bianca. You know it might be good if we had each other's numbers, in case something else happens," I comment.

"Here," Adam says typing on his phone a moment and then mine alerts me to a text, "that's Drew's."

"Thanks Adam. Drew this is mine and Jake's, you have Dave's, right?" I ask while preparing the text.

"Yeah, from basketball. And this is Owen and Bianca's," Drew says replying to my text with their numbers.

"I'll get yours and Jake's at your house, you can give me Dave's too and I'll send them all to Owen," Bianca remarks.

"I'll give Adam your numbers at home," Drew comments.

"I can send it all to Dave later. Has anyone seen Dave?" Adam queries.

"No, but Officer Turner is near the front doors we can ask him," Owen replies.

We all walk to the front, Officer Turner is waiting, he tells us Dave went home early, he was escorted by a police car and he knows Dave made it safely. The rest of us not only get escorted to our cars by a uniformed cop but a patrol car follows us home. If the media wasn't sure who else was at the cabin at this point I'm pretty sure the police escort just tipped them off.

Once we're home the patrol car leaves but there's supposed to be an undercover car parked near the house. I unlock the door and hold the other door open for Jake. He comes in and goes right to the sofa to sit down. Bianca follows him in and sits with him on the sofa, I text Mom and Glen that we're home safe. Then I text everyone else that we're home safe because I feel a need to. Within a moment they all text back that they are too. Jake and Bianca already have their books out and seem to be doing homework. I start to go upstairs to do my own homework, but there's a knock at the front door. I turn to see who it is, it looks like a flower delivery man, so I turn on the stairs and go down to open the front door.

"Can I help you?" I ask. I can feel Jake and Bianca watching from the sofa.

"Flowers for Clare and Jake Martin," he says handing me the long box.

"Thanks," I say as he turns to leave. He doesn't look back, and apparently I don't need to sign, so I close and lock the door again. "Someone got my last name wrong, but sent us flowers," I tell Jake as I set the box on the dining room table. I pull the ribbon off the box, open the lid, pull back the tissue, and when I see what's in the box let out a blood curling scream!

 **Ooh, I am sooo mean and I'm not putting up another chapter this round so you have to wait. This story also has one or two chapters left and will be ending next round. Since I hate decisions and I'm waaaaaaaay to busy with the move to make any at this point I think I will have you guys vote on the short story that will replace this. So, keep an eye out for the announcement that a poll is up.**

 **Anyway, the update for this will pick up from here. Next to go up will be the last chapter of** _ **Salvaged & Saved.**_


	5. This Has Gone Far Enough

**Don't forget to vote in the couplings tournament on the Degrassi Saviors website. Winning couples will be featured in an upcoming story!**

 **WARNING! This chapter gets fairly graphic. Please read with caution.**

 **Ch. 5 This Has Gone Far Enough**

 **(BIANCA)**

When Clare lets out a high-pitched, terrified scream my blood runs cold. Clare is completely white, she looks like she might pass out. Jake and I both hop up and run over, of course I get to her first with Jake on crutches. I go behind her just in case she passes out again, she manages to keep standing, before running to the sink and vomiting. Can't say I blame her once I see what's in the box, not flowers but ears, fingers and a nose! Six ears arranged in a circle with a nose in the center. A stick below them and several fingers arranged sort of like a leaf. There's blood in the box, a putrid smell coming from it, the smell of decay and death. A black bow is tied at the end of the stick, it looks aflower Jack the Ripper or Ed Gein might send to you. Someone has a truly demented sense of humor, someone is tormenting us. This isn't a joke or a prank, this isn't just someone trying to scare us, someone is after us.

"This is Officer Menken, I heard a scream," he shouts from the other side of the door as he bangs on it.

Jake has hobbled his way over to Clare, she looks paler now that she's vomited, and he's telling her to sit down. By the look on Jake's face I'm pretty sure he saw what was in the box too. He's looking pretty green, actually my own stomach is churning after seeing the contents of the box. When Officer Menken beats on the door again I go to the door, and after seeing the officer's ID I unlock the door for him.

"I hope you saw that flower delivery guy, because he was not a flower delivery guy, those are definitely not flowers," I comment pointing to the box on the table.

He peeks over, looks a little green himself, and then gets on his radio. "This is Menken, I need back up and crime sceneover here now. Better send an EMT as well," he comments looking at Clare. She's still ghostly white, she's also lying on the floor in a fetal position and babbling incoherently.

"What about the others? Owen got a note this morning and now this? I'm a…"

I stop talking when his radio crackles and another urgent voice comes over it, "Immediate assistance to Turner at residence. EMT and trauma unit also requested."

" _Fuck, what the hell happened to Dave?"_ Is the first thought to come into my head. It's actually probably a good thing that Clare is hysterical right now because I'm sure she didn't hear that. _"Didn't Dave go home with an officer? Wasn't there a guard on his house? How the fuck did someone get to him? Somebody is really hurting us! This isn't just some sick joke, someone wants to hurt us!"_ All these thoughts run through my head, I bite my tongue to keep from saying them out loud. When there's a loud knock on the door it startles me out of my thoughts. Officer Menken goes over and opens the door, he returns followed by four more cops, some people in masks and gloves with kits, they must be the crime scene people, and two EMTs. While the cops and crime scene people gather around the macabre flower arrangement the EMTs go over to Clare.

"She's in shock, we need to get her to the hospital," one of the EMTs says.

"Of course, she's in fucking shock! She got body parts, body parts that probably belong to our friends, hand delivered to her," I shriek.

"We're going with you to the hospital. Someone needs to check on everyone else," Jake comments as he begins hobbling to the door on his crutches.

"Have any of you called the other cops that are supposed to be guarding our friends?" I question.

"We got a check on the others, everyone is safe. Just here and Turner's," Officer Menken tells me.

"Then call Clare and Jake's parents, and tell everyone else that Clare's not hurt, but going to the hospital," I reply before I follow Jake outside.

While I help Jake into the front of the ambulance the EMTs get the gurney from the ambulance and take it inside. They return a moment later with Clare on the gurney, she's still babbling and crying as they put her in the back of the ambulance. I ride in the back of the ambulance with Clare. The EMT back here is taking her blood pressure and other vitals, Clare doesn't seem to be at all aware of what's going on. I think she just broke, seeing what was in the box she just totally snapped.

"Shouldn't you be giving her a sedative or something?" I question.

"Not until her vitals have stabilized, her blood pressure is very low."

Needing to do something I text Owen that Jake and I are in the ambulance on the way to the hospital with Clare. He texts back that they all heard, and everyone is on their way, including Eli. The ambulance parks at the hospital I get out of the way, so they can take Clare in. I go around and help Jake out of the front, we walk in, but don't see Clare anywhere. It suddenly occurs to me that we're alone in a crowded hospital and Jake is already injured. If we are being stalked this is a perfect opportunity to get to us. I look around before going to the desk.

"A girl was just brought in by two EMTs, we're with her. We were also two of the kids at the cabin that the men attacked."

"Yes, an officer called ahead and said you'd be coming. There's a secured waiting room where you can wait together. Two officers are posted at the door. How many more of you are coming?" The nurse asks.

"Four, plus Clare's parents probably. Owen Milligan, Drew and Adam Torres, Eli Goldsworthy. Clare's parents are Glen and Helen Martin."

"What about Dave?" Jake inquires.

"I don't think Dave is coming," I reply. I don't know what else to tell him because I don't know what happened.

The nurse takes down the names then calls for a security escort. Jake and I are walked by a large security guard to a room with two officers at the door. They let us in and I help Jake sit in one of the chairs.

"Why isn't Dave coming?" Jake queries.

"I don't know what happened, I just know that just after Officer Menken called for backup I heard over his radio that immediate assistance was required at the Turner residence. They also requested a trauma unit and EMT."

"Fuck!" Jake exclaims and then looks green again. "Did you look in the flower box? Six ears, the fingers the…"

"Yeah, I saw the box," I comment before Jake continues.

"Who do you think the body parts belong to?"

"Probably our friends, they said Mo and Marisol were torn apart. Maybe animals didn't do it, maybe the psychos did."

"But the psychos that broke into the cabin are dead, and there were six ears not four," Jake argues.

A horrifyingly bone chilling possibility suddenly occurs to me. "Maybe there weren't just two of them," I can barely whisper the thought out. The mere idea that this possibility is real makes me shiver.

Jake shivers too, he opens his mouth to say something but closes it as the door opens. Owen comes into the room followed by Drew, Adam and Eli. When they're in the room the door closes again.

"How's Clare?"

"What in the hell happened?"

"Where's Dave?"

They all ask at once and it takes me a moment to sort out the overlapping questions and answer them.

"Clare's not hurt, but this guy came to the door. He was delivering flowers, he must have looked legit because the officer didn't stop him, and Clare opened the door for him. Neither Jake nor I saw him from the sofa. The delivery guy left, Clare put the box on the table and opened it. She let out this terrible scream, all the blood drained from her face, I thought she was going to pass out again."

"I take it there weren't flowers in the box," Owen states.

"Someone's sick idea of a flower. Six ears and a nose arranged like a flower, on a stick with a ribbon around it. Fingers arranged like a leaf," I tell them feeling my stomach churn as I think about it again.

"Bloody fucking hell, who would do that?" Eli exclaims.

"No wonder Clare freaked," Adam comments.

"So, where's Dave?" Drew inquires.

"We don't know. The undercover officer posted at the house ran in when he heard Clare scream. After he called for assistance I heard over his radio that assistance, an EMT and a trauma unit were being requested at the Turner residence."

The only things said for the next ten seconds are curse words. Then we're silent, Jake and I look at each other wondering if we should tell the others our theory. Before we can decide the door opens and the parents come in, not just Helen and Glen, but Audra and Omar along with Owen's parents.

"Any news on Clare?" Jake asks.

"They gave her a sedative and her room will be guarded as long as she's here. Hopefully, after some rest she'll be released tomorrow. They told us that she may have had a complete mental break, in which case she'll be admitted to the psychiatric ward tomorrow."

"The rest of you, and Clare if she's better tomorrow, are being moved to a safe house. You'll have guards and undercover cops at the house with you. Even we won't know where it is, for your safety. These are no longer threats, someone is after you kids," Audra tells us. I knew someone was truly after us when I saw what was in the flower box.

"You mean like witness protection?" Adam asks.

"In a way, but you'll all be in town, you'll be allowed to go to school even. Only you'll be taken together and guarded at school, at the house, and you won't be able to go anywhere without a guard. You won't be able to go home either, not until this is resolved."

"But who would be after us? Who would want to harm us?" Drew queries.

"There was another one wasn't there? The psychos at the cabin, there wasn't just two of them we missed one…or more than one," I comment.

"The two men that were killed at the cabin were part of a group that were on a crime spree in Ottawa. There were five men in that group, the whereabouts of the other three are unknown. The police do think that one or more of the remaining men heard about what happened and tracked you all home. That they're seeking vengeance for you killing the others. It's also possible they were there at the cabin with the other two and you never saw them. Until the other three are in custody your lives are in danger," Glen tells us.

"And Dave? What happened to him?" I ask.

"We don't know, they won't tell us anything," Audra admits.

"If you kids are ready to go to the safe house officers will escort you out," Omar informs us.

"What about our stuff?" Owen asks.

"What about Clare?" Adam questions.

"We'll be meeting officers later to bring them your bags. Bianca we'll be getting some things for you," Owen's Mom says.

"Thanks," I reply. My auntie has virtually disappeared since this mess started. Not that I'm surprised, she wasn't exactly around before all of this.

"Clare is under sedation, and she'll be guarded as long as she's here. Hopefully, she'll join you all at the safe house tomorrow," Glen reminds us.

"Then, I guess we're ready to go to the safe house," Drew speaks up and the rest of us nod.

"I'll see you guys tomorrow at school, be safe, all of you," Eli tells us.

Eli turns to go, and Audra follows him to the door. Eli waves to us before disappearing while Audra tells the officers we're ready to go to the safe house. We're escorted out not only by four officers, but two hospital security guards. We're taken via service elevator to the back of the hospital. The five of us are put into a van with no windows in the back, there are seats, but there's a barrier between the back and the front. We can't see out and no one can see into the back, and thus we are not visible. It seems like a long drive, but that could be because we were all very silent. The van stops and I hear the sound of a garage door being opened. The van pulls in, the garage door closes and then the sliding door of the van opens.

"Stay in the van until we've secured the house," an officer tells us.

"Isn't this a safe house?" Owen inquires.

"Can't be too careful," is the officers only reply.

We wait a few minutes, hear a door opening and closing from the house, and then the officer waves us out. When we get inside the curtains are drawn, but it is getting dark. A female officer gives us a quick tour; great room area, and one small bedroom down here with a washroom that also connects to the hall. Jake will take that bedroom so that he doesn't have to go up and down the stairs on his crutches. Upstairs are five more bedrooms, Adam gets his own with an attached washroom for obvious reasons. Owen and Drew share one with bunk beds and a shared washroom, Clare (if she's well enough to join us) and I share the washroom with the guys and a room with two double beds. The master is for officers on guard duty. We're told we can go anywhere in the house, but we can't go outside without an officer. If we want to leave the house, even to go the garage we must be escorted by an officer.

"This is weird, all the security, it's weird," I remark. After the tour and the security run down, we all came into Jake's room. We wanted to be together, but didn't want Jake to have to try going up the stairs. We're all sitting on his bed now.

"Very weird," Adam agrees.

"Fucking weird," Owen states.

"I hope Clare's okay, because if Dave was okay they would have told us by now or he'd be with us. Not telling us anything, he must be…" Adam's sentence trails off as the words choke in his throat. None of us want to think about it, but we all know.

We sit there in silence for a while, no one knows what to say, all of us trying not to think about the worst possibilities. I'm trying to think of something positive to say, something to cheer people up, nothing comes to mind. When there's a knock at the door it startles all of us.

"It's Reggie Turner," he calls through the door. His voice sounds haggard, graveled by pain or worry. He suddenly sounds very old, I know whatever he's about to tell us can't be good.

"Come in," Owen answers.

The door opens, and I feel my heart drop, he looks twenty years older. His eyes sag, he looks sad, worried and enraged all at once. The only shred of hope I can find is the fact that he doesn't look like he's been crying.

"I wanted to come and tell you kids this personally. Dave is missing, and we know he's hurt. When I got home I found the undercover officer unconscious, Dave was nowhere, blood was everywhere," he tells us. His voice cracks with pain and he closes his eyes a moment to regain his ability to speak. "It was at least a couple hours old, we think he was attacked just after getting home. He had to be taken from the house, we searched everywhere and Dave was nowhere, nor was there a body. Officers did a canvas of the neighborhood, but no one saw anything. I hope he's still alive but the amount of blood…" he stops talking as he tears up, he swallows back the tears and clears his throat. "We haven't found a body yet, as long as we haven't found a body there's hope."

We all nod, sort of smile, trying to offer hope and encouragement to him and each other. I want to say something, to be supportive and hopeful, but nothing comes to mind. In my head I'm screaming that we lost another friend, that Clare has lost her mind. The one thought pounding at the back of my mind is: _"How long before the rest of us go crazy or get killed?"_

"The stuff your parents sent for you will be here soon. They'll order dinner and have an officer pick it up. If you need anything just let one of the officers know. I'll make sure you're kept informed both on Clare and the search for Dave," Officer Turner tells us.

"Thanks Mr. Turner," Adam says.

Officer Turner leaves and we're alone again. Five of us. From twelve to five, although hopefully there's still seven of us. Doesn't seem likely, but we can hope.

 **(OWEN)**

"We'll be leaving in thirty minutes to get you to school," an officer tells us.

"Guess we should get ready then," Bianca remarks getting up slowly.

None of us slept our first night in the safe house. We all felt guarded, protected even, but safe, I don't think any of us felt truly safe. The whole situation was surreal, I kept thinking I'd wake up any minute, back at the cabin after some horrible nightmare. We were worried about our friends and all had too much on our minds to sleep. We all stayed downstairs in the living room, mostly silent except for the TV we left on all night. The officers took shifts sleeping, so at least two of them were awake with us at all times. There was lots of coffee made, we all drank some, sleep just wasn't a reality last night.

We all get ready and are taken to school in the back of the van that brought us here. When we get out of the van we see that it brought us to the service entrance of the school. I realize a windowless white van pulling up to the front would probably look suspicious. On the other hand, pulling up to the service entrance at the back of the school makes it look like just another delivery. Also, we're far less exposed at this entrance.

"There are two uniformed cops posted at the front, and you each have an undercover watching you all today. There will also be regular patrols around the perimeter," Officer Davis tells us as soon as we're inside.

"Great," Bianca huffs, "which one of you is my shadow?"

"That'd be me," says the only female officer with us.

"Let's go, I need to visit my locker," Bianca remarks turning on her heel.

We all split up to get to our lockers, all of us followed by our bodyguards. They might be in civilian clothes, but they can't really pass for high school students, and it's obvious we're being followed. Of course, everyone else in the hall watches us walking with our guards.

Aside from people watching us and whispering, and being shadowed by an armed undercover officer it's not a bad morning. Then at lunch my bodyguard tells me he's been instructed to bring me to Principal Simpson's office.

"Why? What's going on?" I inquire.

"I don't know Son, I was just instructed to get you to the office."

My stomach has tied itself in knots, my heart is sinking already, an awful dreadful feeling growing in my stomach. When we get there, we see Clare's mom as well Principal Simpson.

"Helen, what's going on? Wait Clare is she…" Jake begins.

"Clare's fine," she assures him, "you sit down Jake. You can't be putting weight on that leg." Helen helps him into a chair, Adam takes the other chair and the rest of us stand.

"Is Clare awake?" Adam inquires.

"Yes, I just came from the hospital. She's awake and doing much better, she'll join you all at the safehouse this evening."

"That's great news, but I doubt you came all the way down here just to tell us that," Adam comments.

"No, I came to tell you that Dave's body was found. About an hour ago, what they left of it anyway. We wanted you kids to hear it before the story broke in the news. Reggie, Officer Turner, came to the hospital to tell Clare. We wanted to tell her immediately to see how she would handle it. He also told us that the autopsies were completed on Alli and Jenna, they were both murdered. Reggie wanted to come tell all of you about Dave, Alli and Jenna himself, but he's grieving and angry. I told him he needed to be with his wife and I would come tell you."

"Fuck, Dave is dead. Alli and Jenna were murdered, we're being picked off one by one," Bianca growls.

"We're not going to let that happen, that's why the police have moved you to a safehouse and why you have guards even inside the school," Helen says.

"So, if Clare is joining us at the safehouse later then she took all the news pretty well I guess? No mental breakdown?" I ask.

"She was upset of course, sad and angry but she was able to handle the news, no mental breakdown. They're keeping her at the hospital to rest and for observation, but she'll be released later this afternoon. Two uniformed officers are outside her door at all times, and only a specific list of people is allowed in to see her."

"You kids should go eat lunch," Principal Simpson tells us after the room has been silent for a minute.

We all leave the office, walking to the caf, but none of us are hungry. Clare is better which is good, yet there's no reason to celebrate. Dave is dead, murdered. Alli and Jenna did not commit suicide or die from previous injuries, both were murdered. And the psychos are still out there and after the rest of us.

The rest of the afternoon has a somber tone to it. I'm pretty sure none of us concentrate in class. And as much as I don't really like the seclusion and sort of imprisoned feeling of the safehouse, we're all happy to return to it after school. If only to not have people staring, whispering, and asking questions. We're especially happy to see Clare here when we return.

"I'm glad you're better," Adam says hugging her.

"Me too. When I opened the box and saw all the…" she pauses and looks slightly green and fairly pale. I think she might vomit or pass out, but she releases a breath and continues, "pieces, I just knew it was our friends and I snapped," Clare tells us.

"I probably would have done the same," Drew says and the rest of us nod.

"We're just glad you're okay and you joined us here," I tell her.

"Thanks," Clare smiles, "me too. I didn't like being in the hospital. I do wish our friends were here with us though."

We all nod in agreement, not having anything to say I hug Clare tightly. I hardly knew her before all of this, now I'm happy she's okay and here with us. A part of me doesn't want to let her go, afraid of losing her too.

 **Chapter six is up, go and read the conclusion!**


	6. Coming Up from the Depths to the Rays

**Last chapter everyone, I hope you enjoy it!**

 **Ch. 6 Coming Up from the Depths to the Rays of the Sun**

 **(CLARE)**

"I don't think I can live like this much longer Adam," I comment sinking down onto my bed.

"Yeah, me either. I don't know how long they'll have funding to protect us like this. I feel like time is running out," Adam agrees sitting down next to me. The others are downstairs, we just returned to the safehouse from school.

"I feel the same, and if these men can't get to us, how long before they start going after our families. They know where my house is, and Owen's."

"Yeah, I hadn't thought of that, but they aren't patient. Killing a member of our family would probably give them the same satisfaction, maybe more so."

"We have to do something, I can't keep living and feeling like a prisoner. It's only been two weeks and I'm tired of feeling imprisoned. They can't keep guarding us like this around the clock forever. It takes a lot of manpower and other resources, all of which costs money. I doubt that this qualifies to put us in witness protection, even if it does we'll be scattered. We've lost so much already, I can't lose you and the others. One thing is for certain, nothing's going to happen unless we take a stand. We can't let those psychos be in control we have to take it," I assert.

"You want to set a trap." It wasn't a question, Adam knows what I'm thinking.

"We have to take control of this, if we let the protection run out then what? If they go after our families, our parents it means they still have control. If one of use loses a member of our family we could snap. We'll talk to the cops, plan a trap with them, but I can't do this much longer. If the only way to lure these psychopaths out and have them captured, or killed, is to put my life on the line, I'm willing to take that risk."

"You won't be alone," Adam says putting an arm around me.

I smile at him and hug my best friend. "We talk to the cops first. We'll tell our guards we want to go outside for some air, our shadows will come with us, we'll go to an isolated part of the yard. We don't tell the others, not yet. This is our idea, we're putting ourselves at risk, if they know they'll want to do it too."

"Agreed," Adam nods.

We leave my room and go downstairs. There's always a minimum of five shadows with us, usually more. Shadows is what we call the officers currently guarding us. There's sixteen different ones and they rotate, we call them by their last names when speaking to them directly, otherwise we call them our shadows. Currently two are napping and four are sitting at the table. Jake, Owen, Drew and Bianca are all doing homework in Jake's room.

"We're going out for some air," I announce while Adam and I grab our winter coats from the closet. Just as I knew they would two of the officers stand up and follow us outside. "We've come to a decision, we can't do this much longer. We also know that you can't guard us like this indefinitely. I'm not going to wait around to be killed, we want to set a trap."

"We can't authorize that," Officer Nichols replies.

"Then call someone that can," Adam demands.

"Take them inside, I'll call the sarge," Officer Embry says. We go back inside with Officer Nichols and sit on the sofa. Now that we're inside we take off our coats, waiting impatiently for Officer Embry. "The sarge wants to talk to you both," Officer Embry says when he comes back in.

"We don't want the others to know yet, this is our decision," I tell them.

"I'll take them, you stay here," Officer Embry tells the other officers

"One sec," I say and knock on Jake's door. When someone says come in I open the door. "I need to run an errand; Officer Embry is taking me and Adam's coming with me."

"Okay, be safe," Jake replies.

"We will," I respond before closing the door.

Adam and I get our coats back on and leave with Officer Embry. On the whole drive to the police station I'm thinking of the best way to lay a trap. One that won't put Adam and I in too much danger. When we arrive at the police station Officer Embry escorts us in. The sarge is waiting for us and Officer Turner is here as well, we're glad to see him, we haven't seen him since Dave's memorial.

"You realize the only to set a trap is to put your lives in danger," Detective Staff Sergeant Corbett says to us before we even sit down.

"We know, but we can't live like this much longer and you can't keep guards on us like you have been much longer. Don't try to deny it or give us false assurances, we're not stupid. We have to do this. We've thought about this and we're determined to do it. I was thinking it could happen at the school, after school when most everyone is gone. Adam and I will stay after school, under the guise of working on a project. We'll go outside, with an officer guarding us, but they'll pretend to fall asleep. Other officers should be around too, but well out of sight, maybe snipers on the roof. When they see we're alone they're sure to come for us, and then you get them," I tell everyone.

The sarge looks thoughtful, but he doesn't say anything.

"You have to admit it's a good plan sarge," Officer Turner speaks up. "And they're right we have to do something soon. We won't have the funding to guard them much longer, and I'm not letting another one of these kids die. It would be hard to get them into witness protection. We have no idea how far these guys will go, based on what they've already done I'm thinking pretty far."

"I know, and I agree it's a good plan. I'll go along with it, but we'll have to be very thorough about where to put snipers and other guards. Both of you must have bulletproof vests on as well."

"Yes, that's a good idea," Adam nods.

"Alright, give us a few days to put an airtight plan together. Reggie will you help with getting plans and photos of the school?"

"Sure thing sarge," Officer Turner nods.

"Embry take them back to the safehouse," the sarge orders.

We leave with Officer Embry to get back to the safehouse. Both of us knowing we'll have to tell the others when we return, and knowing they're going to hate this plan. Officer Embry calls in that we're approaching before the garage opens. As soon as we come in one of the officers says they're going to get pizza for dinner and leaves. They had to wait for us to return so that a certain number of officers would be here.

"We need to talk to the others," I tell Adam and he nods. I can hear them in Jake's room still. I knock on the door and Jake calls to come in. "We just came from talking with the Officer Turner and his commanding officer."

"About what?" Owen questions.

"Setting a trap for these psychos," Adam says.

"How would you set a trap?" Drew asks.

"They're going to be bait," Owen answers for us.

"No way," Drew exclaims.

"Not happening," Jake says.

"You can't put your lives in danger like that," Owen argues.

"You'll be killed," Bianca exclaims.

"Our lives are already in danger. We can't live like this for much longer. They won't have the money to guard us round the clock much longer. We don't qualify for witness protection, and even if that were approved we'd be scattered and unable to communicate. I don't know about the rest of you, but I don't want to lose any of you. I'm tired of sitting around and waiting to die. We have to take action, we lead them into a trap so that they get captured or die," I explain.

"We're not stupid, we're not trying to do this alone that's why we spoke to the cops. We have a plan that will put us at the least amount of risk. There will be snipers, undercover guards and we'll have bulletproof vests," Adam tells them.

"I still don't like this, but they're right, we can't do this much longer. It feels like a prison and I doubt they'll have funding much longer," Bianca comments. The boys nod reluctantly.

We tell them the whole plan, that Officer Turner is helping and that the sarge needs a few days to finalize. By the time we're done explaining it all we're called out to dinner.

The next few days seem to drag on while we wait for news. Finally, we hear that everything's set and ready to go. The night before Adam and I go with two officers to the police station again, we meet with the sarge and everyone taking part to go over the plan in detail. This is our last chance to go through the plan and work out any possible kinks. The trap is getting set tomorrow.

Adam and I hardly sleep that night, the anxiety of what will happen tomorrow looming over us. We're supposed to act like it's just any other Tuesday, assuming the psychos are watching us. We do our best, we try to concentrate in class, to appear normal, hopefully it works.

The plan begins after school, Jake, Bianca and their shadows return to the safehouse as they have no afterschool activities. Owen and Drew stay for hockey and basketball respectively. Adam and I are staying with the excuse of working on a project. We don't have a project, but we stay inside for about an hour and get a start on our homework. We're waiting for the yard, parking lot and school to empty as much as possible, and for all the officers to be in place. I know Principal Simpson and a couple of teachers will be patrolling the yard and keeping people away from where Adam and I will be.

All of us, including Mr. Simpson have gone over this plan at least two dozen times in the last few days. Making sure everyone knows their part and when things will happen, the signals, the risks, everything. I've spent the last few nights going over every possible outcome in my head, we're as prepared as we can be. This is it.

When we get the signal that everyone is in place Adam and I get our bulletproof vests on, and then our coats. We announce that it's hot and we want some air. In case the psychos are listening, they couldn't be watching us from where we are in the school. We go outside followed by our shadows. Adam brushes some snow off a picnic table and we sit down as we start to work on our "project". Just as planned our shadows pretend to get cold and tired of being out in the snow after fifteen minutes. One stays with us while the other pulls the car around. They get in the car and watch us from there. The next ten minutes are possibly the longest of my life. Finally, my shadow tells us she's going to The Dot to get some coffee, leaving us to appear alone with only one guard. A few minutes after my shadow leaves Adam's shadow pretends to fall asleep.

Now, my heart begins to pound, if they're watching this is their opportunity. I can feel them watching, lying in wait and ready to pounce like the predators they are. I'm sure they're out there and watching, but the seconds drag by, each one feels like an eternity as we wait to be attacked. The longer it takes the more my mind fills with doubt. Maybe they aren't watching, maybe they know it's a trap, did we waste everyone's time?

"I'm not sure this is going to work," I whisper to Adam. As I whisper I lean closer to him, and suddenly feel cold air and something warm on my arm.

"Clare," Adam says with alarm. Then he pulls me down with such force we land on the bench together.

The next thing I know Adam and I are being picked up and tossed in a car. As the car speeds away, I look back and see a lot of commotion in the school yard. I look at the driver to see it's Officer Embry, at least we're safe, but I'm not quite sure what happened.

"What's going on? Where are we going?" I question.

"The hospital," Officer Embry replies.

"Why would we n…"

"Clare," Adam says picking up my hand, "you've been shot."

I see blood on my hand, running down from my arm, but I feel no pain. "I didn't even feel it, Adam help me off with my coat."

Adam helps me get my coat off and we look at my arm. There is blood, but not much of it, there is a hole in my coat arm though.

"Thank goodness," Adam breathes with relief.

"I'm okay it's just a graze," I tell Officer Embry. Of course, now that I've seen the wound it hurts and burns.

"That's great, but I still need to take you to the hospital," Officer Embry responds.

Adam takes off his bulletproof vest, and then helps me off with mine. We arrive at the hospital and they take me back. They clean the wound and put gauze on it, that's it, they tell me I can take an over the counter if I'm in a lot of pain. When we return to the safehouse the others are there, all relieved that we're okay and they hug us both.

"I'm glad you kids are okay," Officer Turner's voice makes us turn around.

"Did it work?" Adam questions.

"Yes, it did. The one that tried to shoot you, and very nearly did, was shot by a sniper. We caught a second one nearby, we think he was the lookout. He's been arrested, he wouldn't talk but we found a motel key on him and a team of officers went to the motel. The third man has been arrested," Officer Turner tells us.

"So, we're safe now?" Owen asks.

"Yes, you're safe now. Your parents are on their way to pick you up and take you all home."

We all let out a simultaneous sigh of relief. It's over, we're going home. Okay, it's not entirely over there will still be a trial, but this part is over. Living in a waking nightmare is over and we can go home.

Even though it's great to be home and the psychos are either dead or in jail we don't sleep. Bianca came home with us; her aunt never came for her which we figured would happen. The three of us stay downstairs all night, and on the phone all night with Owen, Drew and Adam. None of us can sleep even though we know we're safe now. We all get to school at the same time the next day, and when we arrive we find Officer Turner waiting for us.

"What are you doing here?" Owen questions.

"Don't tell me they made bail," Adam comments.

"No, they didn't make bail. They both confessed, a full confession to all their crimes. There will be no trial, they'll go before a judge and until then they'll be held without bail."

"Then it's over, it's truly over," I exhale.

"Yes, you're safe now and it's all over," Officer Turner smiles.

"Thanks Mr. Turner," Adam grins. Officer Turner leaves and we all go inside with smiles on our faces.

"So, what happens now? It's all over, it feels…odd in a way," Owen remarks.

"Now we get on with our lives," I respond. "No more running, no more hiding, no more living in fear."

 **Epilogue: One Year Later**

 **(ADAM)**

"We have all gathered today to honor the memories of Mo Mashkour, Marisol Lewis, Katie Matlin, Jenna Middleton, Alliah Bhandari and David Turner. I had the pleasure of knowing all of them as their principal," Mr. Simpson says from the podium.

The school auditorium is so full that it's standing room only, and overflow was sent to the gym where the memorial is being shown on the screens. It's been a year since we were all at Owen's cabin and the nightmare began. No one, including Owen and his family have been back to the cabin, he says they aren't sure what they'll do with it. Though, they have had some interest from murder buffs and the like that want to see it. Owen and his family just don't want to open it to people like that.

A year later and life still has not returned to normal, I'm not sure that it ever can, not the normal that we knew anyway. I think we've all found a new normal. Things haven't entirely calmed down, and even after we were safe our lives remained nothing but chaos for months.

Drew had nightmares for months about seeing Katie shot in front of him. He'd wake up screaming, I took to sleeping on his floor for three months just to already be with him when he'd wake up screaming. He went to therapy a lot, and a PTSD support group we all attended to some degree. At first, he threw himself into sports to get the aggression out, after dislocating his shoulder he re-focused his energy. For the last few months he's been volunteering at two different preschools several afternoons a week. On the weekends he volunteers at other organizations that work with kids. It's done him a lot of good, I'm starting to see some healing in my brother. He hasn't dated, not since Katie, it's not that he was in love with her or anything, he just can't stand the thought of losing anyone else. I know one day soon he'll be ready, I never thought I'd be hoping for the day that my brother will tell me he likes a girl and wants to date her. Drew did not complete his senior year and is repeating, but I'm still proud of the progress he's made.

As Principal Simpson continues talking about Mo and Marisol, and pictures of the two are shown behind him on the projector screen I see Jake wipe his eyes. Bianca takes his hand, interlacing their fingers and kissing his cheek. We all threw ourselves into something to try and get over what happened. Bianca and Jake threw themselves into each other, as soon as Jake's leg was better Bianca asked him out, and they've been dating ever since. They did both graduate last summer, and both now attend Centennial, Jake also works part time for his dad. Bianca's aunt left, no one knows where she went, but Bianca moved in with Owen and his family. Which turned out to be extremely convenient as Clare and Owen began dating.

I'm not quite sure when they became official. As far as I know he never asked her out or to be his girlfriend and she never asked him our or to be her boyfriend. They just spent a lot of time together, and then one day they were a couple. No one said anything, no one asked when it happened it was like we all just knew. According to Clare it was the same for them, one day Owen kissed her and that was that.

Unlike Jake and Bianca, Clare and Owen have thrown themselves into more than just each other. Owen, much like Drew, threw himself into sports and then his studies, he now attends Ryerson majoring in kinesiology. Typical of Clare, she threw herself into school, but also writing. She did a lot of writing, both fictional and non-fictional based on what we all went through, some of it has even been published.

As for myself, I threw myself into school a little bit, mostly I threw myself into music. Writing it, playing it, performing it anyway I could. I almost always had my bass or guitar in hand or was composing on my computer. I collaborated with Drew, Maya and Zig on a lot of the songs, we recorded a few and put them on the internet. We even preformed at the school a few times. Music is how I met Grace, she helped us with recording a few pf the songs. She and I really became close when she helped me make a video for one of the songs I wrote. The video was directed by Eli of course, before he left for NYU. He's currently back in town for the memorial, and he e-mails or calls both Clare and I at least once a week. Grace and I had our first official date last summer and will be celebrating six months together next week.

For a long while after everything it felt strange to celebrate things. We all got hit with survivor's guilt at one time or another, at least we all had each other for support. After the men had been captured or killed, and it was found out that the whole idea for the trap had come from me and Clare we were hailed as heroes. We didn't agree and couldn't really see why. Honestly, we were doing something pretty damn stupid out of a sense of growing desperation. We all knew we were extremely lucky that it had worked and that the worst that happened was the bullet grazing Clare's arm, the scar is still quite visible on her arm.

The media hounded us all for a long time, and eventually we held a press conference to get them to stop. Mom was there, and Officer Turner too, mostly to keep them from asking any questions we weren't prepared to answer. Clare's published writings, and my songs, have answered a lot of the questions too, including some no one thought to ask.

This last year has been a lifetime, and yet somehow it seems only yesterday we were driving up to Owen's cabin. It's funny to think now that a year ago I barely knew Jake, Owen or Bianca. Today they are three of my closest friends. While I'm sure each one of us would trade these friendships and relationships of the past year for the lives of those that were killed, I know we're all grateful for the friendships and relationships we have now.

I wish none of us had gone through that nightmare, but I know it made us all stronger. It brought us all closer together, brought us all someone or something we didn't have before. Brought us a new appreciation for life and each new day, and the people in our lives, even the ones we may not consider big parts of our lives.

After what happened we all had a choice to make; let the events break us or use them to be stronger, move forward, be better, live not only for us but those we lost. It came close to breaking us all at points, Clare and Drew probably came the closest, but we all stood on the edge at one point or another.

I don't know what will come next, I don't know how long Grace and I will be together or Clare and Owen or Jake and Bianca. I don't even know that we'll always be friends and stay in touch, as much as I'd like to believe we'll stay friends forever we just don't know what life has in store for us.

I do know four things for certain:

Number one: No matter what life throws at the six of us we can handle it. Very little can be worse than what we've already been through.

Number two: We will never forget what happened at the cabin or the events that followed. In one way or another they will haunt us for the rest of our lives, but they will not break us.

Number three: Even though we didn't know all of them very well Dave, Alli, Jenna, Mo, Marisol, and Katie will always have a special place in our hearts and memories.

Number four: Life may pull us apart eventually, but I will always be able to draw on strength from Jake, Bianca, Owen, Clare and Drew. Even if we don't all stay in touch I know they'll be there with me, where ever life takes me, as I'll be there with them in spirit. You can't go through something terrible together the way we did and not forever be a part of each other.

I look around the auditorium and see all the support from the school, the families and the community. I look at Drew, Clare, Owen, Bianca and Jake we survived, we made it and everyday is a victory over the ones who tried to steal them from us.

 **That does it for this story, hope you all enjoyed it. Replacing this, as voted by you, is** _ **Why Do I Want Him Still**_ **. Next story to be updates is** _ **The Way She Smiles When She Sees Me.**_


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